FASGS: The Guardians
by StarStrellaStar
Summary: The second year at the academy starts off a bit different than the last. Bella and Chris now have a big responsibility on their shoulders - "To be found and unravelled, the bonded ones must return to life and find the clues to solve the mystery."
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N:**___** I'm finally back! For those of you who are not familiar with FASGS... you should go and read the first part _Forks Academy for Special Gifted students_**

**Okay... that's that. Now... I'm sorry for taking so long, but I had a few inspirational problems -.- **

**But now I'm back and somewhat motivated to continue with this story :)**

**So, Bella and Chris are back at home and on vacation while the rest of the clique is scattered all over the country, enjoying their free time as well.**

**Just read and enjoy, I'll be at the bottom**

* * *

><p><strong>Chris POV<strong>

The sun rays warmed my exposed belly and I smiled quietly to myself, listening to the sound of waves as they filled my ears along with the mindless chatter and laughter of the people who spent their time at the beach as well.

"Life can't get any better than this," I sighed and heaved myself into a seating position.

"Oh yes, it can," Raven disagreed and pointed over to the left. "Unless you've already seen this little hottie."

I followed her gaze and pushed my sunglasses up to inspect the guy more carefully. Life had officially just gotten better.

"Hey Bella, look at—"

"Wow, that's quite impressive," Bella giggled to my left.

My gaze landed on her, only to see her with her cell phone attached to her ear.

"Is she on the phone again?" Raven asked, not even surprised.

"Not again," I mumbled. "Still."

In the past two weeks since our vacation started, Bella had constantly been on the phone. Or the Medeis mirror when the two of us were alone. She spent hours and hours just talking to... Edward. I should have known that this was how our vacation was going to be. At least he wasn't here with us - although sometimes it really felt like he was.

"Jesus, who would have thought that Bella would ever turn into one of those girls?" Raven sighed.

"What girls?"

"Well, those girls. You know... The ones who always hang on their phones to talk to their boyfriends and if they don't talk to him, they'll text him and if he doesn't reply they'll be watching their phone very closely while talking about how great their boyfriends are," Raven explained.

"She's not that bad...yet," I defended her weakly.

"Thank God for that."

"No, thank God for _that_," I corrected and pointed to where our hot man candy was now talking to an equally hot friend.

Raven started drooling but still managed to talk normally. "Hey Chris, I thought you also had a boyfriend?" she asked.

I stayed quiet for a moment, thinking about Dylan. I was having some trouble with seeing him as my boyfriend and the fact that we hadn't really gotten to spend much time together only added to that.

"Yes, but he's not here so I just have to pass my time with other hot guys," I replied lightly.

"Gosh, I wish I could meet those boyfriends of yours," Raven sighed.

"Be careful what you wish for," I warned her.

"What? Don't you want to see your boo?"

"He's not 'my boo'. And I'm actually enjoying my vacation right now, so there is no need for him to be appearing here. Although, it would be a wonderful opportunity to talk to him."

"What was his name again"

"Dylan."

"And he's the older brother of Edward, right?"

"Yes."

"How old was Edward again?"

"18, I think."

"Wow."

"What?"

"Nothing really," Raven replied lightly and leaned back.

I knew for sure that something was going on in Raven's head, but I wasn't going to ask her what she was thinking. She wouldn't tell me anyway.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Did you girls have a nice day?" Mom asked when we were all seated around the table.

"Oh, it was nothing special really," I answered.

"Raven tripped over some guy's bag and twisted her ankle," Bella informed her.

I was surprised that she even noticed that. I had thought she had been too busy on her phone.

"Oh dear, did she hurt herself?"

"Yes."

"She's really unlucky sometimes," Mom muttered.

"Not really. She got the guy's phone number," I threw in. Bella and I both giggled at that.

Raven's plans were always the most idiotic, but for some reason they seemed to work for her.

"You mean she hurt herself on purpose?"

"Yeah," Bella and I chorused.

Mom shook her head, while Dad looked displeased.

"Isn't she too young for that kind of thing?" he asked.

I raised my eyebrows. "Dad, she is the same age as we are."

"Exactly."

I sighed. Here we go again...

"You are only sixteen years old, you shouldn't be wasting your time with boys. You need to study and concentrate on school," he rambled.

"Dad, we're on vacation," Bella noted.

"So? You can still study. It will ensure you a spot at a good college," he retorted.

"Dad, we already have scholarships for college," I replied.

"Charlie, stop being so close-minded. Both of our girls have a boyfriend and you remember that their teacher assured us that they were doing just fine," Mom chided.

"Yes, but I want my girls to be the best and not just fine," Dad grumbled.

Bella and I exchanged looks but didn't say anything. Instead, I inspected the food that my mother had put on the table for us.

"What in the world is this?" I asked her, looking at the gray mass on my plate.

"It's...uh...something new. Just try it, it's good. Your father likes it," she replied.

I threw a doubting look in my father's direction, who suddenly seemed to be occupied with enjoying his food.

_I think we're just about the only teenagers in the world who miss the __food at school,_ Bella's voice rang in my head.

I chuckled at that, nodding my agreement.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Alice, do you think your mom can teach our mom how to cook?" I asked the image of the little pixie in the mirror.

"Come on, her cooking skills can't be that horrible," Alice replied.

"Of course not. They're worse," Bella chimed in. She had just gotten out of the shower and sat down on my bed beside me.

"Well, I would ask my mom to rescue you guys, but she and Dad are pretty busy at the school right now."

"Is the IDM still there?" I asked.

Alice shrugged. "All I know is that something is going on there, but not even I know what. We left just a day after you guys did, remember?"

"Right."

The fact that we were all put on vacation all of the sudden was a bit more unsettling than relieving. Especially if you take into account how the last days at the academy had been for us.

"Maybe you should ask Laurent," Alice suggested.

"He's not telling us anything and Delphine is in France right now," Bella told her with a sigh.

Both Bella and I had come to the realization that Delphine was not as good at keeping secrets as her brother was. That was probably the reason why he send her on a vacation to France and stayed here by himself.

I didn't even know why any of them had to be here in the first place. It wasn't like we needed some kind of babysitters. But of course, when I had mentioned that Laurent had just ignored me and informed us that he would be staying in a little hotel only five minutes away from our home.

I really wondered sometimes if he even knew the meaning of the word 'vacation'.

"Hey Alice, I was just wondering... What exactly are guys going to be doing for Edward's birthday?" Bella randomly asked.

I groaned. Of course there couldn't be a single conversation without Edward being mentioned. Clearly, this separation was not healthy for them.

"Um, I'm not sure yet. Edward said that I could not throw him a party, so that option is out. Both he and Dylan are currently at Emmett's, so I'm not sure what they have planned to do," Alice replied thoughtfully.

"How is the farm life, by the way?" I asked Alice, remembering that she had been complaining a few days ago.

Sure enough, her expression changed into one of disgust.

"It's dirty, it's smelly and it's disgusting. Today, Jasper tried to teach me how to ride a horse and now my back hurts like hell. Those beasts are not comfortable at all. I don't know how Jazzy does it."

I laughed, imagining Alice on a horse.

"It would all be easier for me if you guys were here as well. I love Jasper and Rose, of course, and their dad is super nice, but the three of them are just too Southern for me," Alice whined.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad."

"It's not bad at all, but I don't want to be the only one embarrassing herself."

I shook my head at Alice.

"Sorry Alice, but we're not exchanging the beach for cows and pigs," Bella told her.

Alice sighed. "I know, I wouldn't do that either. I'll just have to come up with a plan to make my vacation more bearable."

"You do that."

"Alright guys, I'm gonna go and sleep now. Rose promised me to drive to town with me tomorrow morning and do some shopping."

"I hope you're getting something for us," I said to her.

"I'll think about it. Goodnight."

"Night," Bella and I chorused just before Alice's image vanished.

Bella went over to her own bed and crawled under the covers, while I did the same.

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, Raven asked if we wanted to watch the surf competition tomorrow afternoon," I informed Bella once I was settled between my pillows.

"What surf competition?"

"Her school apparently hosts it. There is gonna be food, hot surfers and a lot of squealing girls."

"Sounds wonderful. I guess we should be there as well."

"The hot surfers convinced you, didn't they?"

"Most definitely."

We both giggled quietly and then wished each other a good night.

The next day we were at the beach, playing audience at the so-called surf competition.

I gave up acting as if it interested me as soon as I realized that the people participating couldn't even surf properly.

It was quite sad to watch, really.

"Do you think that Raven will notice if we just leave?" Bella asked, obviously also unimpressed by the surfing skills - or lack of - of Raven's classmates.

"I don't think so," I replied. "She's coming over to us."

She followed my gaze and we both watched Raven approaching with another girl by her side.

The girl was pretty small, reminding me a little of Alice. As they came closer, I got to examine her appearance better. She had long pale brown hair, which she wore in big curls, letting them frame her face beautifully. Her make-up seemed to be perfectly matched with her clothing and her overall appearance just kind of reminded me of a doll.

"Guys, meet Jane. Jane, this is Bella and Chris. You'll never meet anyone like them," Raven introduced us as soon as she had reached us.

Jane's clear blue eyes were inspecting us with a look that I found slightly unsettling. "I'd say," she mumbled, probably in response to Raven's introduction.

"Um... nice to meet you, Jane," Bella said carefully, looking first at me and then at Raven.

"Jane just transferred to my school. I think her parents are pretty lame for making her attend school for the last few days, but at least that way she won't be bored to death over the holidays."

"Right. And how do we fit into that equation?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

Bella elbowed me into the side. It actually hurt.

I glared at her in return as I rubbed the spot she had hit.

_Don't always be so rude,_ she mentally hissed.

Rolling my eyes at her, I turned back to Raven and Jane.

I really had to wonder why in the world Raven hung out with someone like Jane. Raven wasn't really into dolls; she didn't even like them when we were kids.

"Oh and you guys totally have to meet Jane's twin brother. His name is Alec and—oh, that's him righ there." Raven pointed at one of the surfers and I had to admit that this one didn't suck as much as some of the others did.

Unlike his sister, he was dark-haired, but that was all I could see in the distance. Somehow I still had the feeling that the brother was the only reason Raven chose to associate with Jane.

That, and maybe she had some kind of twin fetish. Who knows?

"He's good," Bella commented.

"He's a showoff," muttered Jane.

"He's hot."

We all turned to look at Raven, who started fanning herself. I guess that explained why she was hanging out with Jane.

"You think my brother is hot?" Jane inquired and pulled a grimace. "Ew, that is just gross."

Raven broke out of her daze and stared at Jane. She opened her mouth, but closed it again.

An uncomfortable silence followed.

"So," Bella started slowly, "Raven, could it be that you have a thing for twins?"

Raven smiled. "Don't worry, you'll always be my favourite twins."

"You're twins?" Jane asked in disbelief.

Both Bella and I looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Um, yeah..." we answered in unison.

She eyed us for a little while. Then she shrugged and redirected her gaze.

I sent a pointed look in Raven's direction. What the hell had she been thinking when she brought this doll along with her? Hopefully the guy was worth it.

"Are we just going to sit here, or do you guys ever do anything fun?" Jane asked, obviously bored.

"Bella! Chris!"

Bella and I turned at the sound of our names. A group of girls that I recognized as our old classmates walked up to us.

"Hey, I didn't know that you guys were here," Mia greeted. "I thought you were at that private academy." She was with two other former classmates of ours – Ruby and Tyra.

"They let us out a bit earlier than expected," I told them with a wide grin. Meeting my old friends again had a strange sense of normalty.

"Private academy?" Jane sounded impressed or something along the lines.

Ruby twirled her red hair into a bun and inspected Jane with raised brows. "Yes. Bella and Chris left us last year because they'd gotten a scholarship for some elite school."

I didn't like the look on Jane's face that followed these words.

"Anyway, we were just going to find some guys who could teach us how to surf. Wanna join?" Tyra asked.

Bella smiled widely. "I haven't been on a surfboard in years!" She jumped up enthusiastically and wiggled out of her beach dress, revealing hte blue bikini that Alice made her buy months ago. "Come on, Chris," she encouraged.

With a sigh, I pulled my own dress over my head.

"Since when do you have a tattoo? And how come I haven't seen it before?" Raven questioned immediately.

I looked down at myself and realized that I'd forgotten to cover it up. Alice had bought us some special kind of makeup a while ago to cover the seals.

I glanced at Bella, who seemed to realize just then that she hadn't covered hers, either. Damn it.

**Bella POV**

"It's henna. Mom tried it out on us yesterday," I explained swiftly and turned around to show them my seal as well.

"Wow, that looks so cool," Tyra complimented.

"Thanks."

"Alright, let's go and find someone who can actually surf," Chris called and jumped up.

"Hey Jane, do you think your brother will teach us?" Raven asked excitedly.

Jane looked at each of us with an unreadable expression, before she suddenly smiled brightly. "I'm sure that he will," she answered and got up. She too was wearing a swimsuit underneath her clothes. It was light pink, making her look even more like a doll.

"Are you sure he's patient enough to deal with seven girls at once?" Chris asked skeptically.

"I already know how to surf, but the two of them insisted on finding a guy to teach them," Ruby informed me.

I giggled at that. Of course they would.

As soon as Jane's brother was out of the water, we all marched up to him. I'm pretty sure that he was kind of confused as to why a bunch of girls were coming up to him and demanding he teach them to surf.

But Jane was suddenly being all pleasant and made the introductions, so he volunteered to teach us all.

After five minutes that consisted of each of us calling Alec's name as if we were going to drown – which was not possible, since we weren't in the water then – he gave up and called a few other boys to join us.

We definitely all had fun, despite the fact that most of us didn't get the hang of the whole thing at all.

To my utter surprise, I managed to stay on the board longer than all of the other girls. Just when I was starting to feel safe on it, however, I slipped and crashed into the water. At some point I just gave up surfing and stayed in the water to watch the others. My swimming skills had drastically improved and I guessed that it had to do with the fact hat I felt a lot different in the water now than I used to.

At the end of the day we were all beyond exhausted, so we agreed that we'd meet again the next day.

Mia walked home with us, since she only lived at the end of the street, and insisted on asking our mother to make her a henna tattoo as well.

Thankfully, our mom was not at home.

Realizing that I hadn't talked to Edward all day, I immediately ran up to my room and grabbed the Medeis Mirror to talk to him.

I told him about my day and in turn he told me what he'd been up to all day. Apparently Emmett's entire family had been there to celebrate some family anniversary. From what I could gather, it had been a complete mess, since Emmett's family was huge and almost every one of them was as loud as he was.

It was a great mixture of American sport fanatics and a big wave of Hungarian relatives. Not only were there quite a few misunderstandings, but also a colorful mix of languages. Apparently, Emmett was able to communicate in both languages, much to the surprise of Edward and Dylan.

Edward assured me, though, that he had fun.

I talked to Emmett real quick as well, who told me how Edward and his grandmother had gotten into a disagreement over a football match that had been on.

After a while, Chris came to join me and we both talked to Edward and Emmett about random things. When Chris casually asked about Dylan, both boys shrugged and told her that he was being a bit moody these days and didn't really like talking to anyone.

Chris frowned thoughtfully in return and I briefly wondered if something had happened between them.

We ended our conversation with Edward and Emmett when we heard some werird noise coming from the kitchen, and both of us raced down the stairs to see what happened.

It shouldn't have surprised us that Mom was attempting to cook again and had made something in the microwave explode.

"Seriously, Mom? Even I know that you aren't supposed to boil eggs in the microwave," Chris exclaimed when she examined the mess in the microwave.

Mom huffed and rolled her eyes.

"What were you trying to do anyway?" I asked her.

"I'm currently working on writing a recipe book. I was going to experiment a little."

Chris sighed and went to the phone. "What pizza do you guys want?"

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

Apart from the little catastrophes every now and then, we managed to have a rather peaceful vacation.

We hung out mostly with our old friends, although Alec and Jane tagged along as well. Sometimes Alec brought some friends along so that he wouldn't be alone with us girls, though he didn't seem to mind, which was no surprise really. Raven, Tyra and Ruby were all constantly flirting with him. Mia was mostly fixated on his one friend, Matt, and Chris and I found the whole thing amusing.

Although Chris' attitude changed a little over the course of the vacation and she started to fall back into her flirtatious tendencies. Seeing that she was being a bit grumpy every time I talked to Edward, I really started to think that something must have happened between her and Dylan. When I asked Edward about it, he couldn't tell me anything.

Then there was also Edward's birthday coming up. Since there was nothing really that I could do, I just settled for sending him something nice. The whole group went tot he mall for that, and once Mia had discovered that I had a boyfriend, there was no other topic throughout the day.

Chris kept quiet most of the time, but was still helpful when it came to pickig out something for Edward. She even helped arrange the package later on and put in a present herself. We printed out a picture of the two of us for the blank card that we'd gotten him, and I wrote an incredibly long birthday greeting in it, which Chris merely signed.

Dad took the package with him the next day, but didn't look too pleased that I'd gotten my boyfriend something for his birthday.

"Dad, could you please send it off for me?" I asked him for the third time already.

"I said I'd do," he grumbled in response. He didn't look at me while saying this.

Chris chose that moment to appear in the dining room as well. She was still dressed in her pyjamas, looking ruffled and only half awake.

"Good morning, sweetie," Mom greeted her.

Chris didn't reply and just walked passed Dad, hitting him on the back of is head.

"Ow," he complained. "What is wrong with you?"

"Just send off the damn package, Dad," she muttered and sat down next to me.

"I said that I would do it, jeez."

"Baby, you can't lie to three women at once," Mom interfered.

Dad rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath.

"_Daaaad?_" I whined.

"What?"

"Stop being so stubborn."

"I'm not being stubborn."

"Dad, if I find out that you didn't send it off I will never talk to you again."

We all laughed when we saw Dad's shoulders slump down.

"You know what happens when you blackmail a cop, right?" Dad asked slowly.

"Um...no."

"You get punished." He suddenly jumped up and launched himself at me.

I didn't react until he started tickling me.

I heard Mom and Chris chuckle in the background while I almost fell off my chair with laughter.

"D-dad...s-stop—" I leaned away from him and suddenly felt myself falling.

Luckily, Dad caught me before I could hit my head or something. He pulled me up and caught my gaze. "I hope you told this Edwin that I want to meet him, otherwise the package will land in the nearest dumpster," he said in a serious voice.

I bobbed my head fiercely. "Of course I told him. But you can't expect him to fly across the country right away just because you want to make him uncomfortable," I lied swiftly, amazed how I was not blushing.

"Of course I can expect that. I can expect even more – he is dating my precious daughter after all."

Chris cleared he throat.

"Don't think that your boy is kept out of this, either. They both better make an appearance at some point and be on their best behaviour."

"I'll make sure to tell him that as soon as he talks to me again," Chris muttered bitterly.

The muttering was actually too low to make out, but since I was sitting next to her I heard it. And despite the fact that Dad usually has trouble hearing us when we speak too quietly, his ears twitched and he turned his attention to Chris.

"What was that?" he questioned politely, which was of course a farce.

Chris looked up in surprise. "What was what?"

"He's not talking to you?"

"Err..."

"How dare he treat my daughter like that?" he roared and went to grab the phone. "What's his phone number? I'm gonna call him right now!"

"I'm not giving you his phone number," Chris scoffed in response, getting up and walking into the kitchen.

"Oh yes, you are."

"No way. Knowing you, you'll probably threaten to put him in jail or something."

"Damn right I will. No body on this earth is allowed to ignore my daughters like that. Not even her boyfriend. What the hell is this boy thinking? Does he think that he's too good for you? I'm gonna pull his arrogant ass back to the ground of reality. If anything should b—"

"Dad!" Chris yelled, returning with a sandwich in her hand. "Just drop it already."

Dad looked at her for a moment and then nodded. "Don't think I'm done with this. You will tell me all about this Dustin when I get back from work, and then you will give me his phone number so I can—"

"Sweetie, you are going to be late," Mom piped in.

I just watched the whole thing, not sure if I should be amused by Dad's outburst or worried about Chris' seemingly irritated mood.

Dad left, grumbling something under his breath.

As soon as he was out the door, Mom turned her attention to Chris, who had gone into the kitchen once more to get herself a bowl of cereal. She balanced the bowl in her right hand, her other hand holding two chocolate bars.

"Chris, why don't you tell us what's bothering you?" Mom asked her gently.

"Nothing's bothering me."

"Is that why you're burying yourself underneath all that food?" I asked her dryly.

"What? I'm hungry." She shoved a spoonful into her mouth as if to prove her point.

"Sure you are. I'm surprised you haven't gone for ice cream."

"Shut up."

"Not until you tell me what's wrong with you; you've been kind of gloomy lately."

"I don't see how that is any of your business."

"Apart from the fact that I have to endure you and your moodiness?"

"You don't have you. You can just go and do whatever you want to do, and leave me alone."

I opened my mouth to snap something back at her, but Mom chose that moment to interfere.

"That's enough, girls," she sighed and shook her head at us. "You two shouldn't be snapping at each other like that. You are twins, you have a special bond between you and that should make you more considerate of your sister's feelings."

I turned to look at my mother in surprise. What did she know about the bond?

Chris stopped scowling as well and stared at Mom with wide eyes.

"Mom, what are you talking about?" I asked carefully.

"Hmm?" she looked up at me. "Oh, I once read an article about twins who could always feel when their siblings was near. They said they shared emotions as well and that nothing could ever separate them. When I found out that I would be having twin girls, I had been so happy because no matter what happened, I knew that you two would always be there for each other," she sighed dreamily and folded her hands, looking up dramatically.

Sometimes I had to wonder if she thought that this was all just a movie. Obviously she was having one of her antics again.

I let out a breath of relief and heard Chris do the same, before she went back to her earlier sour mood.

"Seriously Chris, what's wrong?" I asked my sister gently.

"Nothing."

"Oh no. I know that look," Mom whispered and hurried to Chris' side. "Chris, what did you do?" she asked calmly.

Chris immediately flinched back from her. "I didn't do anything," she snapped and bit forcefully into her chocolate bar.

"Well, then what did Dylan do? Something must have happened."

Chris just turned her face in the other direction and didn't reply.

Mom grabbed her arms and shook her gently. "Chris, what did he do?" The way she kept pressing made it seem as if she already had an answer and just wanted to hear it from Chris.

"Jesus, stop bothering me. He didn't do anything. Well, he did, but—ugh. There is no way I'm talking to you about this." She just pushed Mom's hands away and crossed her arms.

"Sweetie, if something happened—"

"Why can't you just leave it alone? It's not like anything bad happened. We didn't get into a fight or whatever." Chris' voice was a bit strained now and I could feel her resolve crumbling. "Yes, there was something. A big something. But I didn't know that it would cause him to stop talking to me. It just happened and I didn't want to tell you at first because I just wanted to keep it between us, and then when more time passed I just felt stupid and didn't tell you because I didn't want you to tell me how stupid I was." Chris was now pacing around.

"I wouldn't do that, you know that," I told her gently.

"Well, in this case you would. Especially since you seem to be doing everything right. I don't see any flaw in your relationship with Edward."

I honestly had no idea where she was going with this.

"You two just make it look so easy. When you're together, it just looks right and as far as I know, you two never really had any serious issues. The only fights you have are about who loves the other more."

"Chris, I don't think I follow," Mom remarked quietly.

"Neither do I," I added.

Chris sighed in exasperation. "I tried it with Dylan a thousand different ways and each one ended in disaster. I just wanted to be at ease like you are with Edward, but no matter what I did, I just created more trouble. So I decided that maybe I tried too hard and just gave up, but now I think I just gave up too much." She sat back down, tugging on her hair.

Apparently these words made perfect sense to Mom because she made a sound that told me that she'd just had an epiphany. "I knew that I knew that look!" she said smugly, before turning serious again. "Honey, did you and Dylan...?"

Chris just nodded, blushing slightly and looking away.

Meanwhile, I was still in the dark.

"Oh, bum-bum!" Mom squealed. "I can't believe that you've grown up so fast." And just like that, my mother turned into a teenage girl. "How was it? Did he treat you okay? 'Cause if he didn't—"

"Mom!" Chris shouted in mortification. "Stop that already."

"But I wanna know all about my little girl's first time."

And just like that, a light was switched on and I was no longer in the dark.

I pointed a finger at Chris. "_That's_ why you were so chipper that morning!" I accused.

Chris blushed even more.

"Aw, she's blushing. It must have been good then, otherwise she'd cry," Mom noted.

"Mother!"

"Was it really?" I asked, curious to hear.

"You guys are horrible," Chris said, getting up at the sound of the doorbell.

"Good morning, beautiful Swan," I heard Raven's voice greet.

Mom's eyes twinkled and I knew that this wouldn't end well. At least not for Chris.

"We are so going to make this a girls' day," Mom announced and pranced into the kitchen.

"Girls' day?" Raven asked, entering the room. "What's the occasion? Did someone get dumped?"

"No, even better," Mom shouted and returned from the kitchen. "Chris is now a woman."

"Would you cut that out?" Chris snapped, grabbing a spoon from the table and throwing it in Mom's direction.

Of course, she missed, but I had a feeling that she hadn't even planned on hitting Mom.

"Wha—oh." Raven's face took on an entirely new expression. It was the strangest mixture of smugness, curiosity and more smugness. She followed our mother into the kitchen and I knew then for sure that we were doomed.

**XxxXxXxXxXx**

"Are we finally done now?" I asked, hanging upside down from the armchair.

"I guess so. We did the manis and the pedis, and I have no more sex talk left," Mom noted.

"Good," Chris grunted and shoved more ice cream into her mouth.

"Stop that," Raven scolded. "Only frustrated girls get wasted on ice cream."

"I am frustrated."

"You have no reason to be. From what you have told us, you must be floating on clouds right now."

"I didn't tell you anything," Chris barked.

"No, but your blush gave you away, sweetie," Mom told her.

"Whatever." She continued with the ice cream.

"Stop it already," Raven instructed and took the carton away from her.

"Hey, give it back. I have every right to be frustrated. For once in my life I'm just being completely nice to that guy, not pushing him away or giving him a hard time, and all I get in return is big fat silence. Now give me that ice cream because I need it."

"Oh right, he doesn't talk to you."

Only now Mom and Raven came out of their teenage girl bliss. I still didn't get what got them all excited. It should be Chris who's jumping up and down the walls, not them.

"Maybe he feels awkward about it," I offered, wanting to make Chris feel better.

"He's the one making it awkward. Besides, it's not like I was his first victim. I bet he just moved on since he now got what he wanted," Chris muttered.

"What?" Mom and Rave shrieked at the same time.

Both Chris and I looked at them with raised eyebrows.

"Just what kind of guy is this Dylan?"

"He's an arrogant prick who loves to go through girls just to boost his ego," Chris replied instantly.

"Come on, don't be so mean. You know that he has his good side, too."

"Yes, I know."

"Maybe, you should call him," Rave suggested.

"You could even invite him to come visit us. And Edward, of course."

I jumped up at that. "I'll get the phone."

"Seriously, Bella? Obsessed much?" Chris asked with raised eyebrows.

"What? You are the one making the call... I already invited Edward like a thousand times but he won't appear until you agree as well and also, this is not even about me and Edward, but you and Dylan. I really don't want to see you sulking everyday."

"I'm not going to call him," Chris protested. "He can stay wherever he is – I don't want him here." With these words she stomped out of the room and upstairs.

"Just like her father... Always stubborn," Mom said absentmindedly.

I rolled my eyes at her. As if she wasn't stubborn herself... And weird.

"So is Chris just going to stay upstairs all day?" Raven asked.

I shrugged.

"How lame. I was going to ask you guys to go to the beach with me."

I stared at Raven, wondering where she had left her brain today. "Have you looked at the time? The day is almost over, seeing that you crazy people insisted on a girls' day."

"Oh well." Raven shrugged.

"Let's get started with dinner. Your father should be home soon," Mom suggested and got up.

"Sure."

The three of us went into the kitchen and decided to make pizza. It wasn't all that hard and even my mother couldn't mess that up.

Just when we pulled our pizza out of the oven, Dad came back home, happy to see that today's dinner would not be lethal.

I went upstairs to call Chris down for dinner as well, but when I entered our room I saw that she was fast asleep and didn't want to wake her.

The following days passed painfully slow. It was raining a lot and so we stayed in most of the time.

Mom had started a new painting project in the garage and forced us to take part.

It wasn't all that bad, seeing that I actually enjoyed painting even if I wasn't all that good at it. Chris on the other hand didn't see the point of drawing flowers and butterflies on the walls.

Raven told her not to be so negative and continued painting. A bleeding heart with a dagger pierced through it. What a positive attitude she had.

As soon as the sun reappeared a couple of days later, my phone rang showing that it was Mia calling.

"Hey, where are you?" she asked right away.

"At home, just getting ready. Why?"

"Common thing to ask. What are you and Chris up to, today?"

I stopped rummaging through the closet and looked over at Chris, who was standing in front of the mirror fussing over her hair. She was still not completely over the fact that it was shorter now. It suited her though, especially since it was getting thicker now.

Even Mom had told her that it was 'totally chic' but apparently she didn't care.

"Hey Chris, are we doing something today?" I asked her.

"I don't know or care as long as I don't have to paint another damn flower."

"I guess, we're still planning," I told Mia.

"Oh goody," she squeaked, "You are so going to hang with us today."

"What do you guys have in mind?"

"I don't want to hear anything about the beach today. I don't care if the sun is out, the beach's getting kinda lame," Chris muttered in the background, highly concentrated on lining her eyes. She usually didn't even wear make up just like me, so I guessed that she was bored.

"Jane invited us over to her place. They have a swimming pool and Alec is inviting some guys as well."

"Where does she live?"

I went over to the desk to find something to write, while Mia told me the address.

"No drive to the beach today?" Chris asked in a hopeful voice.

"No drive to the beach. We're apparently going to a pool party at Jane's."

"Seriously? I'm not sure if that is any better."

I shrugged. "We don't have anything better to do. Do you want to drive?"

"Hell yeah," Chris cheered.

"Well, then you ask Mom is she's giving out the car today."

Chris immediately darted out of the room, while I searched for something appropriate to wear.

An hour later we were sitting in Mom's red coupe. We didn't even get to drive much since we've gotten our licenses since most of the time we either were dropped off or walked.

To be actually driving ourselves around was kind of exciting even if I wasn't the one in the driver's seat.

We had the top down and enjoyed the sense of freedom.

My phone rang once again only that it was not Mia this time. "Hello?"

"Where are you two going right now?" The harsh sound in Mr. Decour's voice kind of caught me off guard. More than the fact that he was calling me. I didn't even know that he had my phone number.

"Uh...we're going to visit a friend. Why?"

"Because you just disappeared out of my range and didn't even think to inform me. I thought something happened for a moment."

"I'm sorry?"

Chris looked at me in question, wanting to know who I was talking to. I mouthed to her that it was Mr. Decour. "What does Napoleon want?" she wondered.

"When are you going to be back?" Mr. Decour asked at the same time.

"I don't know," I answered both of them.

Both of them sighed. The line went dead and I guessed that Mr. Decour had just hung up.

"How weird."

"He's French. What do you expect?" was Chris' reasoning.

We arrived at Jane's house a few minutes later. Well, maybe the term 'house' wasn't exactly right. It was more like a mansion.

"I'm so glad you could make it. I really hate it when Alec invites his friends over. I don't even know how he knows so many people already," Jane greeted when she opened the door. She led us through the giant entrance hall, chatting happily without a break and pointing out a few rooms that she deemed important. "So, I guess you wanna get changed," she said, opening the door to her bedroom.

Or bed apartment. Depends on how you see it. It was definitely huge and it was pink. And fluffy.

Well, she had combined pink and light blue but I saw so many fluffy pillows and the carpet was fluffy, too.

Chris and I exchanged a look but didn't say anything else.

"Just follow the noise, then you'll most likely find us," Jane said and sauntered from the room.

"Do you know what Jane's parents do for a living?" I questioned Chris.

"Assassinate important personalities."

"Do you really think the pay is that good?"

"You can see the house, can't you?"

I shook my head at Chris, snickering.

Both of us got changed quickly and walked out of the giant bedroom. We followed the noise just as Jane had instructed, which was not hard to do since we could hear girly squealing, music and the roaring laughter of guys.

Just what a pool party should sound like.

Walking through the halls, we somehow made it downstairs and to the backyard.

The girls were all gathered around or in the pool and a few guys – some I recognized, others not so much – were all over the place as well.

There were cocktails, too, and I briefly wondered if the general good mood came from alcohol or if they were all totally sober and just acting drunk.

"Hey, there are our Swans. What did I say, guys? I told you they were hot," Alec boomed, gesturing toward me and Chris.

Jane was occupying one of the deck chairs, looking like a model in the sun as she shook her hands slightly at the guys, who all turned their attention to us.

"I thought they were twins?" one of them said, while I tried to ignore the scanning eyes as I made my way over to Jane.

"They are... You'll see once they are closer to us."

"Is there alcohol in those cocktails?" Chris asked, eyeing the colorful drink in Jane's hand.

"My parents left us alone with our butler, so what do you think?" Jane asked her in return.

"Is that a yes?" The impatience in her voice was not hard to detect. She was a bit too irritable these days.

Jane smiled kindly at her. "Yep."

Chris smiled back at her and without any kind of warning, she snatched the glass right out of Jane's hand and sauntered off toward Alec and two other guys, who had turned their attention toward Tyra and Mia next to them.

Jane just looked a bit confused, before she let out a soft laugh and shook her head. "Have a seat, Bella," she said and gestured toward the deck chair next to her.

Seeing no harm in that, I sat down. "Do you wanna drink anything? Matthew makes wonderful fruit cocktails."

"Um..."

"Matthew," Jane called in a shrill voice, causing everyone to flinch. Matthew, the butler, appeared a few moments later and Jane ticked off an entire list of things she wanted and that others might want.

Jane kept up a conversation with me, although it was more like an interrogation. She asked me millions of questions about school, my friends, things I liked to do, things I wished for, Edward, my relationship with my sister, and she never really revealed much about herself. Sometimes she would mention one of her likes and dislikes, but I had a feeling that she only did that so that I wouldn't feel like I was the only one doing the talking.

I kept my answers as short as possible, whilst sipping on my cocktail. I had forgotten all about asking Jane whether or not there was any alcohol in it. Apparently there was, because after a while I started to feel slightly dizzy and had some kind of warm fuzzy feeling in my tummy.

I started giving Jane more detailed answers and turned into a real talkative girl, occasionally giggling at the antics of the others.

"Bella, we should totally spend the night here. There is no way I'm gonna be able to drive us home," Chris' voice was suddenly right beside my ear and even if she wasn't slurring her words, I could tell that she was drunk.

I furrowed my brows. "How much did you drink?"

Chris shrugged casually and looked over her shoulder. "I don't remember, but I know that I had quite a few drinks. Jane, your butler is the best cocktail mixer ever."

"Yeah, I know," Jane replied with a small smile. "Oh and I don't mind if you guys spend the night. Seeing how everyone is enjoying these cocktails, I guess everybody is gonna be joining in on our sleepover party."

"Oh, that's my first sleepover with boys," Chris cheered and clapped her hands together. She looked back over her shoulder once more.

"No, it's not. Remember the Christmas party at Al—"

"Yeah but we were in separate rooms and parents were present. Doesn't count." Chris rolled her eyes.

Jane got up from her deckchair. Only now I noticed that the sun was slowly starting to set.

"Alec," Jane called over to the pool. "My room or yours?"

"What for?" Alec asked, looking a bit confused.

"We're having a sleepover."

"Your carpet is a lot more comfortable."

Jane grinned and strut off whilst calling for Matthew to go and meet her in her room.

"Come on, Bells. You should join us in the pool. The water is totally warm." Chris tugged on my arm and helped me get on my feet.

I had never really been tipsy, except this one time on New Years when Raven, Chris and I had all sneaked some champagne and thought it wouldn't matter if we just used regular glasses and downed the bubbly liquid.

Before we knew it we had all been rocking out to the Spice Girls, singing along loudly whilst our parents were downstairs in the living room, oblivious to what was going on upstairs.

The crazy high that came with the champagne didn't stay for long though and so I'd never really gotten to enjoy the state of mild drunkenness.

Despite the fact that I was a bit buzzed, I was able to walk perfectly straight. It surprised me more than it probably should have.

Chris was definitely beyond being buzzed at this moment, judging by the way she once stumbled quickly – although she managed to walk rather straight for a drunk person – and her giggling.

"Finally joining us, Bella?" Mia asked me loudly.

Apparently, she had finally gotten somewhere with Matt, because the two of them were sitting at the rim with their legs in the water, Matt's arm around her waist, nuzzling her neck.

"Yeah, I thought you could use something hot in this pool," I retorted casually.

Chris chuckled at that and let go of me. I slowly stepped into the pool, grinning at the cheers of the others.

Ruby came over to my side and engulfed me into a tight, wet hug. At least that was what I thought at first. She put her arms around my neck, but then locked her arms around my waist, pulling me into the water with her weight.

We were both under the water for a moment, but Ruby let go of me quickly, allowing me to get back up and breathe.

The others all found that entertaining 'cause they cheered happily when Ruby and I resurfaced.

Drunk people were definitely easy to entertain.

"Coming back in," Chris called from somewhere behind me.

I turned just in time to see Chris at the other end of the pool, jumping in head first.

Again, cheering followed.

I just rolled my eyes, but smiled slightly to myself, although that had more to do with the comfort I felt in the water.

"Bella, you didn't have enough to drink yet," Alec called to me. Chris was now next to him with his arm around her shoulder. I looked at her with raised eyebrows, but she didn't really notice.

Through the bond, I felt nothing concrete. Everything was blurred and a bit too spiked. All I could make out was that her feelings were overall positive.

Maybe it was the alcohol that made everything so vague.

"Matthew," Tyra practically screamed, sounding like a kid calling for their mommy.

She just continued to call the name until the two guys next to her joined in.

A few minutes later the whole group was yell-singing, "Matthew, get our drinks done, we want our drinks, so get them done."

I just clapped along, refraining from joining in completely.

After about ten minutes of singing, Matthew did appear with a huge tray, earning a round of applause and cheers, while Jane joined all of us in the pool.

We had all enjoyed our pretty, mixed beverages and soon, I was just as drunk as the rest of them.

In my mind I vaguely registered that I couldn't call our parents in this state to tell them that we were staying at Jane's.

The thought just came to me all of the sudden, so I stopped laughing with Ruby and Alec's friend, Keith and turned around to look for my sister.

"Hey, where is Chris?" I asked in confusion, not seeing her. It was already dark and the pool was illuminated by little spotlights inside. I had no idea what time it was and if our parents were already worried about our whereabouts.

"Who's Chris?" Keith asked in confusion.

"My twin sister," I laughed.

"You have a sister?"

"Yup, she's really pretty," I informed him, slurring just a tiny bit.

"I bet she's not prettier than you are."

"Wanna bet money on it? I'll gladly earn some."

Keith might have replied something to that but Tyra interrupted. "Chris is right over there. In that corner with Alec. She's so lucky." Tyra sighed.

I turned to where Tyra had pointed. Sure enough, she was with Alec. The two of them were on the deeper end, pressed into a corner. The only thing I actually saw of Chris were her arms around Alec's neck, one hand occasionally wandering down.

I swam over to them, not really sure how to interrupt them. It also crossed my mind that I had never seen my sister making out with anyone.

"Hey Chris," I called when I was close enough to be sure that she heard me.

In my drunken state, I felt heavier in the water, no longer connected to it and feeling a slight bit empty. I didn't even have a proper connection to Chris, which was really unsettling but not too much since I was easily distracted.

"Hmm," she managed to let out, not loosening herself from Alec.

Alec didn't seem to care about anything at that moment. He had Chris securely caged in the corner and it seemed like that was all he cared about.

"I forgot to call Mom and Dad earlier when we decided to stay here overnight," I said.

The sight of Chris and Alec in their lip-locked state made me feel a bit uneasy as well as jealous. I missed this kind of physical contact.

Chris broke away from Alec, which didn't even deter him in the slightest. Since she turned her head in my direction, he just attacked her neck, not caring if she was really participating or not.

Under the water I could see how he pressed their bodies closer together and I wasn't sure whether or not I should stop this whole thing and remind Chris that she had a boyfriend or if I should just let her go on. After all, it didn't really seem like there was anything happening against her will, but she was also very drunk so who knew what exactly her will was?

When she spoke, though, I wasn't too sure about her drunken state anymore.

"I could call them if you want. I need to go to the bathroom anyway," she proposed.

"Are you sure, you're going to manage that? I don't want Dad to be waiting for us tomorrow with handcuffs ready," I hiccupped.

"No worries, I can totally do this. I haven't had a drink in quite some time, so I guess I'm a bit sobered up."

"Sure you're not on some other kind of high?" My eyes flitted toward Alec, who had relocated his kisses to a place a little bit lower.

She bit her lip and let her hands trail over Alec's upper body again. I realized that this moment was not actually supposed to be for my eyes, but I was too far gone to turn my head in a polite manner.

She pushed Alec away from her and placed a few soft kisses on his lips.

"I don't really think it's a high. It's a bit more of a low," Chris said, kissing him one more time, before she wiggled out of the small space and heaved herself out of the pool.

Alec looked at her with hungry eyes and the excited look on Chris' face told me that those two were up two nothing good.

"I think I'm gonna go with you," I said and was already halfway out of the water. Behind me I heard the others laughing and hollering.

Judging by their calls, someone was emptying their stomach in the bushes.

Chris didn't wait for me, so I had to quickly stumble after her. After being in the water the whole time it was a bit disorientating to feel actual ground beneath my feet again.

In my current state, the giant mansion seemed even more like a maze than before.

Chris didn't really seem to have a clue where we were going, judging by the way she opened every second door in hopes of finding a bathroom.

"Finally," she sighed when she found a bathroom and quickly waved me in. "Way too many rooms," Chris mumbled.

I made an agreeing sound and closed the door behind me.

While Chris made a run toward the toilet, I went over to the mirror and inspected my reflection.

I didn't look nearly as bad as I had feared. My hands were of course soft and crinkled but that was to be expected, since I had spent more than enough time in the water.

"Hey Daddy," I heard Chris say.

I turned around to see my twin sister sitting in the bathtub with her phone pressed to her ear. She looked like a drunk party guest that had just spent the night in the tub, only less messed up.

"Dad, it's not past curfew yet. You and Mom allowed us to stay out until twelve when we don't have school, and it's just after ten."

I heard the low rumble of my father's voice.

"You should be happy that you have two daughters that always come home on time, you know," Chris mumbled.

Again, I heard my father speaking.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry about that. We just kinda forgot all about that and only just remembered."

Chris rolled her eyes at whatever Dad was saying next.

"Anyway, I was actually just calling to let you know that Bella and I are going to spend the night at Jane's."

Whatever Dad was saying next, Chris wasn't listening to it. She just held the phone away from her ear for a moment, readjusted her bikini top, and then interrupted him.

"We left Mom the address before we left and we'll leave our phones on. Mia, Tyra and Ruby are here as well, and there is a grown-up supervisor. There are no boys and we'll be back before tomorrow night. Love you, Dad. Sleep well and see you tomorrow." She ended the call and looked up at me with a grin.

I just looked back at her with raised eyebrows and gestured toward the toilet. "Waiting for it to flush itself?"

"Nothing is impossible in this house," Chris grinned as she heaved herself out of the tub.

"So..." I started and let my voice trail off.

"So?" Chris looked questioningly at me.

"You and Alec?"

Chris rolled her eyes and gently pushed me away from the mirror to check her own reflection. "What about it?"

"You do remember that you have a boyfriend, right?"

Chris sighed. "I'm not too sure about that."

"What? I thought the two of you were together?"

Chris looked at me through the mirror. "We kind of are...or were. I'm not sure. It never felt like an actual relationship—more like we were casually dating or something. And now he's not even talking to me, so I guess it's safe to assume that Dylan and I are not something permanent."

I looked at my sister, searching for any sign of sadness, but I didn't find anything.

"Don't you think you should talk to Dylan before you do something stupid that might affect...whatever you have in any way?"

Chris huffed. "No way. I don't want to spend my holiday plaguing myself with thoughts of what ifs and so on, when I can simply enjoy my free time and get back to worrying about it once the kid decides that I'm worth his time again. I'm not particularly fond of being treated like a toy."

I guess I saw Chris' point. Although I would definitely deal with things differently than she did, I knew that I couldn't exactly interfere. Seeing her expression and having watched her behavior earlier made me realize that the whole situation with Dylan was taking it's toll on her — she just didn't notice, since she was too busy throwing herself into crazy activities.

When we left the bathroom, we promptly walked into the others, who were all wrapped in towels and announced that we were headed for the movie theater. At first I was a bit confused by that, but I quickly understood that they actually had a movie theater in this house.

The room was actually big enough to look like they had stolen it out of a real theater.

I didn't even know what the movie was about that we were watching, because once I was back in the group, I got back to my crazy-happy mood from earlier and laughed senselessly about lots of stuff.

As far as I remembered there were a few more drink consumed and I was kind of impressed with myself that I didn't puke or even feel sick. My head had just started to spin a bit more than it should.

The night continued in a crazy haze. We were all a bit too hyped up and when the movie was over Keith, Matt and the two other friends of Alec's – Jack and Adrian – decided that it would be "the most awesome thing ever" if we did some mattress surfing on the giant stairwell in the entrance hall.

As soon as this idea was out, everybody was up for it.

We squealed, we laughed and occasionally someone cried. It was lots of fun and since the whole group seemed to get along so well, Mia and Jane decided that we'd have to meet again the next day.

Matt offered to let us all in at his parents' country club. Everyone agreed and even Chris and Alec got their hands off of each other to join in on the enthusiasm.

The next morning I woke up by a deep groan rumbling through my entire body.

I slowly opened my eyes and attempted to stretch, but my body was pressed against someone else's, not giving me enough space to move.

Not only that, but my head was definitely not resting on a pillow.

I craned my neck as much as I could, only to see that I had used one of the boys as a pillow, while another one must have mistaken me with a stuffed animal.

"I think they are finally waking up," I heard someone giggle.

I wiggled out of the person's grasp and slowly sat up. I noticed that I had been sleeping on the floor.

Looking around, I recognized my pillow and the one who had cuddled me fiercely in his sleep.

"Was there something going on between you and Keith last night?" Tyra asked me in a suggestive tone.

I didn't look at her as I pried Keith's hands off of me. "Not as far as I know," I answered and cringed at the sound of my voice. Also, I was becoming oddly aware of a headache that was slowly starting to build.

"I can't believe that you were lucky enough to get Keith _and_ Adrian to cuddle up with you. I'm definitely jealous right now," Ruby sighed. She and Tyra were sitting on the floor wrapped in blankets with their hair in a crazy mess.

"Could you people keep it down?" a voice complained from the other side of the room.

We all turned to look at a bundle of sheets that was moving a bit and a small pale hand came to view.

"Come on, Mia. It's already past ten; you might as well get up," Ruby encouraged.

"No way, I'm tired." Mia mumbled.

Looking at the the bundle that she was in, I noticed that she was not sleeping alone either.

"That's what you get for screwing around all night with Matt," Tyra snickered.

Mia's hand flipped her off before it vanished again.

"Where are the others?" I asked in confusion.

"Jane is up on her bed and she actually allowed Jack to join, but kicked him out in the middle of the night. He's somewhere on the other side of the bed," Ruby replied, pointing over to the giant bed, where the whole group could have easily slept on. "Before you even say anything. You and Keith insisted on sleeping on the floor. Nobody knows why."

I just nodded slowly, trying to wake up properly. "Where's Chris?" I yawned casually.

Both Tyra and Ruby giggled like little girls.

Behind me Adrian let out a weird sound before he spoke, "Chris and Alec vanished a long time before we all decided to go to sleep."

"You're awake?"

"Not really."

I laughed quietly until his words had actually sunk in and I felt my face drop.

"She's with Alec?"

"Don't act all surprised; we all saw the two of them. They were practically eating each other," Ruby said.

I shook my head fiercely.

Surely Chris wouldn't have done anything stupid. But remembering the way she had been all over Alec last night, I couldn't be too sure.

I grimaced at the thought. As much as I loved my sister, sometimes she was just plain stupid.

Normally, she had the most fun when she played hard to get, and now she was changing her tactics and settling for being an easy girl?

She could have at least waited one more year to do idiotic stuff like that. Nothing screamed 'slut' more than a sixteen-year old who just got it on with a somewhat stranger after having too much to drink.

At least not in my eyes.

Slowly but surely, each person in the room woke up and we all made our way downstairs to the dining room, where breakfast was already served.

We were like an army of zombies, groaning and moaning whilst staring blankly ahead.

I couldn't even really eat much, so I just settled for water.

The others all drank coffee like there was no tomorrow, but I'd never liked it and I was so thirsty that I could have gone out and drank the pool empty.

Alec and Chris also joined at some point, not looking anymore awake than the rest of us.

Chris carefully avoided my gaze and didn't talk much, which didn't really bother anyone, since we were all half dead anyway.

"Okay, so we'll meet each other at five in front of the club okay?" Matt confirmed once more, after having given us the exact address.

We all mumbled our agreement and each of us took off to our respective cars.

All the water had woken me from my zombie state a bit, so I waltzed off toward the car with Chris stumbling behind me.

My headache was luckily gone after taking Aspirin, but I still felt kind of crappy.

I slid into the driver's seat and waited for Chris to get in the car as well.

It took her forever to finally reach the car and get in, and once she did, she leaned back lazily and didn't say anything.

She only put her sunglasses on in silence, waiting for me to start the car.

I did exactly that and started our way back home.

"So are you ever going to tell me what went on between you and Alec?" I asked casually when the silence started to get on my nerves.

Chris only grunted in response.

"Was that an answer?"

"Just leave me alone."

"Don't you want to tell me?"

"Quiet!"

"You usually tell me everything."

"Come on, I don't wanna talk about it."

"Don't tell me that you have begun to enjoy having sex so much that you are willing to just give it out to every guy that crosses your path."

"Bella!"

"I guess this ends your relationship with Dylan."

"Jesus, I didn't even do...much with Alec," Chris groaned.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"That we didn't do..._it_, okay? He wanted to, but I do have a few boundaries left, surprisingly."

I stayed quiet. The blurriness in the bond was slowly starting to fade, so I could somewhat make out that she was not lying.

I relaxed at that.

Chris looked at me. "What, were you worried about me?"

"A bit," I admitted.

"You shouldn't be. It's a waste of your time to be worried about the stuff I do."

I pulled into our driveway. "Easier said than done."

Getting out of the car, I felt a bit wobbly on my feet.

"Whose car is this?" Chris asked.

I turned around and saw a silver Volvo parked on the street, next to our driveway.

"I don't know," I replied slowly.

Both Chris and I shrugged and walked up to the front door.

Inside the house were more voices than usual, which made Chris slow in her movements as she opened the door.

Hopefully we could sneak off into our room before anyone saw us, because in our current state, it was not advisable to let any visitors see us.

We quietly tiptoed into the house, me closing the door almost silently, and sneaked over to the stairs.

That was until I suddenly froze.

This couldn't be true.

I must have still been dreaming.

"Bella," Chris hissed quietly, while I turned in the direction of the living room.

I was almost standing in the door frame when Chris yanked me back.

"Do you want them to see us like this?" she whispered.

The talking in the living room stopped and now Chris froze as well, before she quickly went back into motion and tried to force me along.

When I didn't budge, she just huffed, turned and attempted to flee on her own, until Mom's voice made her turn back around slowly.

"Good morning, puppies. Are you trying to hide, Chris?"

"No," Chris replied slowly, "Why would I do that?"

Mom looked us up and down quickly and raised her eyebrows before her nose wrinkled up. She looked over her shoulders real quick, no doubt throwing a quick look in Dad's direction. "Did you have fun at Jane's?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but a head appeared behind my mother, cutting off any sound that might have left my mouth.

He looked at me and his eyes widened before he started grinning and shook his head in mock-disapproval.

I was busily staring at the freckles on his nose that had never been there before, when my mind finally started working again and I realized something.

What was Edward doing here in my living room?

* * *

><p><strong><em><span>AN:_An easy and carefree start, don't you think? The whole complex thinking made it difficult for me to just write some fun stuff... ah well, I tried my best :P Right now I'm kinda sleepy so I'm gonna keep my speech short.**

**What do you think of Jane and Alec? Should Edward endure a talk with Chief Swan?**

**Tell me what you think and how you feel :)**

**Special thanks goes as always to my friend and beta- Lish the fish! Love you more than I can tell ya ;)**

**Also, I'm just gonna mention justareaderfan :) She might not beta this story for me, but she does it for others and is a faithful reader of my work ( yes, I know there are more of those and I'll get around to mentioning you, but right now I thought of her) justy, you're amazing and funny... though I'm still upset that yu won't marry me :P**

**Oh yes, one more thing: StarStrellaStar is now on Twitter! I'm gonna be sharing my progress with whatever chapter I'm typing, post senseless thoughts that cross my mind and of course I'll put in a little Sneak Peak here and there ;) I just randomly decided that it would be a good idea, just in case it's taking me too long to update again... So now I'm done with talking, I'll see some of you on Twitter others will have long conversations with me through PMs and whatever else there is. Review, favorite and Alert- I'll be waiting for all of those and once I'm motivated enough by my reviews, I'll continue typing. Aloha for now and lots of love to all of you **

**xoxo *Star* _  
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	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**** Yes, yes. It took me a while. Again. Sorry about that. Between living life, resenting life and trying to deal with life I actually enjoyed life and celebrated my birthday. I was out of town for 10 days to do that and my laptop was turned off during that time.**

**Well, now I have finished the next chapter and without any more words from me you can go on and read :)**

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><p>Bella Pov<p>

"What are you doing here?" Chris immediately snapped, once she set her eyes on Edward.

Edward's grin just widened and his eyes started to twinkle.

I was pretty sure that I was just standing there, gaping at him with my mouth wide open.

"Dylan and I decided to visit our favorite twins," Edward replied.

"Dylan's here?" Chris blurted out.

Mom and I both looked at her worriedly.

Through the bond her emotions once went all over the place before she settled for anxiousness and guilt.

It was good to know that her conscious was still somewhat intact.

"I'm gonna go and take a shower," Chris grumbled, turned and walked upstairs.

I rolled my eyes at her, before I turned back to Mom and Edward.

"I guess, I should change too."

"And brush your teeth," Mom whispered, "I can totally smell the alcohol and I'm sure the Chief won't like that much. Is already enough that the boys made an appearance."

At the mention of 'the Chief' Edward pulled a slight grimace.

Knowing my Dad, he had started the questioning already.

Poor guy.

With a quick warm smile, directed at Edward I turned around quickly and ran up the stairs as well.

Chris was sprawled out on her bed, letting her head dangle over the edge and staring at a fly that tried to make it's escape through the closed window.

"I thought you wanted to shower," I noted, walking over to the closet to take out some fresh clothing.

"I figured that you'd want to use the bathroom first."

I grinned at that. "Sometimes," I told her as I made my way out of our room,"I really, really love you."

I tried to keep my trip to the bathroom as short as possible without missing anything essential. When I was satisfied with my level of cleanliness, I went back to my bedroom to see if Chris had moved from her spot.

When I peaked in she was still staring at that fly, which continued to crash against the glass.

"You'd think that it just gives up and tries to find another way out," Chris mumbled, obviously aware of my presence. The bond was slowly returning to it's normal state.

"Don't you wanna hurry it up a bit?" I asked her, ignoring her statement.

"Why should I?" she asked in a dull voice.

"Because Dylan is waiting downstairs for you?"

"I don't care."

I sighed.

"Could you at least try not to be difficult?"

"Why do you care? You shouldn't even care. Go down and safe Edward. Every minute Dad gets to talk to him without you present is disastrous."

She was right and I bit my lip anxiously.

"Alright, I'll be downstairs. Just promise that you won't hole yourself up in here, okay?"

"Sure, we have to go to a country club today anyway."

She grinned a little while she said that.

I had already long forgotten about those plans and wondered if there was Edward and Dylan would tag along with us.

I made my way downstairs hearing the voice of my mother.

Entering the living room, I looked around in search for Edward.

He wasn't there.

The only ones that were in the room were my mother and Dylan.

Both of them turned around when I entered, my mother raising her eyebrows and Dylan sending me a huge grin.

He got off the couch and crossed the room, pulling me in a tight hug.

"Great to see you, Bella," he said.

"You too."

He pulled back and smiled once more at me, before he sat down again.

"Um... sweetie, where is Chris?" Mom asked, her eyes darting quickly in Dylan's direction.

"She wanted to stay upstairs," I replied. "And where are Edward and Dad?"

"You father convinced Edward to take a walk in the backyard."

"Oh no."

I quickly turned on my heel.

It didn't really take long to find Edward and my father who were sitting on a bench at the far back of our garden.

They were both sitting with their backs to me so I could approach them without noticing.

"...just always keep in mind that I'm a cop. So if you behave in a manner unbecoming while you're with my daughter, I know how to cover up my tracks and the authorities will never find your body."

I stayed in a safe distance, shaking my head at my dad. Edward swallowed visibly.

"I understand, sir."

"Oh, you don't have to call me 'sir'. Chief Swan is okay."

"Err... yes, Chief Swan?"

Poor Edward. I really did want to safe him but I was also curious to hear what my father said.

My father nodded curtly.

"So Edwin, since you're attending the same school as my daughter you must be a pretty good student, right?"

"Yes, Chief Swan. I'm at the top of my class."

"You're not better than my daughter, are you?"

"I don't think so, Chief Swan. But we're not in the same class so I wouldn't know."

"You're starting your Senior year?"

"No, Chief. I will be attending the college this year, after we finish our exams."

"College? Did you skip a grade?"

Edward shook his head, leaning away a bit when my father who started to get a bit scary.

"How old are you boy?"

"I just turned 19."

Silence followed these words and I decided to step in and save Edward.

"Dad, what exactly do you think you're doing?" I asked loud enough for the two of them to hear.

Both of them turned around in surprise.

"I'm having a talk with Edwin," Dad replied. "It's men only, so get back to your mother."

"Right. Should I be telling her that you just threatened to kill my boyfriend?"

Dad paled a bit, but remained calm and composed.

"I never did such thing. I was merely reminding Edwin of a few facts."

"Edward," I cried in exasperation,"His name is Edward."

"That's okay, Bella. I'm sure your dad doesn't do it on purpose," Edward chimed in.

I arched an eyebrow at him. "Of course he does it on purpose. You don't really think that the Chief of Police could be so forgetful?"

"Well..."

"Bella, let us finish our talk. I don't think you really wanna stay and listen," my father interrupted.

"I think that you shouldn't even have started this talk, so Edward and I are going to head in now."

"Isabella," my father said in a warning voice, "If you don't want me to put your boyfriend into jail, you better let us finish our talk."

"Jail? What would you put him in jail for?"

"For dating my under aged daughter."

I stared at my father in disbelief, while Edward started to shift uncomfortably.

"Since when is that a crime?"

"He's 19."

"So?"

"Don't make me say it. We both know that teenagers these days are not as innocent as they used to be."

"What is that supposed to be telling me?"

"Bella, maybe you really should go back inside," Edward piped in.

"Listen to Edwin and let us talk."

I quirked my eyebrows at that and crossed my arms.

"I won't talk to you for the rest of the year if you threaten to kill Edward one more time," I warned my father.

I saw him flinch slightly but his expression didn't change while he nodded at me.

I sighed and then retreated, leaving Edward alone with my father again.

Stepping back into the house, I heard noises coming from the kitchen.

I guessed that it was my mother and stuck my head inside.

Sure enough, my mother was taking out various pans.

"Bella, you are going to help me make lunch," she ordered, not even looking up.

"What are we having?"

Mom paused in her movements as if she hadn't thought about that before. She probably hadn't.

"Hmm... I feel like making mashed potatoes... we'll just improvise."

I rolled my eyes at my mother. Improvising wasn't always a good thing with her.

I opened my mouth to suggest a dish to my mother when I was interrupted by the sound of raised voices.

The sound was accompanied with a flash of anger reaching me through the bond.

I frowned.

Mom looked up as if she could look through the ceiling and see what was going on upstairs.

"What's going on up there?" she wondered.

"They are probably having a fight."

"But they only just reunited."

"Exactly."

Mom looked confused, but I didn't really feel like explaining anything to her. I was pretty sure that Chris wouldn't even want me to tell her.

Instead I just got to work on making lunch, hoping that the visit of the boys was going to be more enjoyable soon.

Edward Pov

"I can't believe you actually got a rental car that looks exactly like yours. Couldn't you have gotten something a little less soccer mom-ish?"Dylan complained.

"Jeez, stop the whining already," I said to him.

Dylan grumbled something in response that I didn't quite catch.

"Cheer up a little. We're going to see the twins in a few minutes."

We had landed in Phoenix in the middle of the night and had spent the night in a hotel close to the airport.

We both decided it would be better not to turn up at the twins' doorstep in the middle of the night.

Well... I decided. Dylan didn't have much of an opinion these days.

He didn't even talk much. Most of the time he spent caught up in his mind, sulking about something.

I had been fighting with myself whether or not I should follow his thoughts.

A couple of times, I had slipped into his mind but nothing useful came out of it.

Sometimes he was thinking about the past event, worrying how things would go from now on and other times he was questioning himself and the way he had been living his life so far. At rare occasions he was thinking about Chris, but on those occasions I didn't even try to see more.

Today he was gloomy again- even more so than the last few weeks.

Good thing that Emmett wasn't with us. He had been annoyed with Dylan's moods.

When I announced that I wanted to surprise Bella with a visit, he practically begged me to take Dylan with me.

"I don't see how that would be a reason for cheering," Dylan yawned.

I raised my eyebrows at that. "Err... maybe because one of them is your girlfriend or am I misinformed?"

"Not sure. I think I screwed up."

"Good heavens, what did you do now?"

Dylan shrugged.

I sighed.

"Hey, do you think I changed?" Dylan suddenly asked.

I looked at him for a brief moment.

"Umm, maybe. Why?"

"No reason."

"Does this have something to do with your recently bad mood?"

"Yes...no...maybe."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

I nodded and didn't say anything else.

A couple of minutes later I parked the car in front of an average sized family home.

The house looked pretty cozy from the outside.

"That's where they live?" Dylan asked, looking out the window.

"According to Alice, yeah."

My psychic sister had provided the twins' address for us, warning us that we should be on our best behavior seeing that their father was a cop.

"It's so...normal."

"Of course it is. What did you expect?"

"I don't know. Nobody ever knows with those two,"Dylan said thoughtfully.

I shook my head at him. "Come on, let's go."

I got out of the car and waited for Dylan to follow suit.

"Let's get this over with," he sighed and made his way toward the front door.

Without wasting any time, he rang the bell impatiently.

I eyed my brother carefully, wondering what exactly was wrong with him.

Seeing the way he tapped his foot and continuously ran a hand through his hair, I came to the conclusion that he was nervous.

Normally, I would have found that humorous if it weren't for the fact that I was feeling a bit uneasy myself.

While the prospect of seeing Bella again made me feel better- almost giddy- the thought of meeting her parents was unsettling.

In my whole life I had never interacted with anyone outside of our world. I knew that they were people just like everyone else I had dealt with so far, but I worried about slipping up and maybe saying too much.

Apart from that I also worried if Bella's parents would even approve of me.

Sure, her mother had been nice enough- maybe even a bit too nice- on the phone but I had never talked to her father and the only thing that I knew about him was that he had a gun and knew how to use it.

I gulped at the thought.

The door opened then and revealed a small person behind it.

I couldn't help but smile.

A beautiful woman in her late thirties opened the door, who reminded me instantly of Bella.

They shared the same gentle facial features although at the same time she also had the same fierceness in her face as Chris did.

"Good morning, Mrs. Swan," I greeted with a bright smile.

Mrs. Swan wore a slightly confused and dazed expression that instantly changed to one of recognition as soon as I spoke.

"Edward," she called delightfully.

My smile widened.

"My, my you are even more handsome than I thought. Is that your natural hair colour?"

Mrs. Swan was looking me up and down, occasionally glancing in Dylan's direction with a confused frown.

"Um.. yes," I replied.

"It's gorgeous," she beamed.

"Thank you, Mrs. Swan."

"Oh please. Call me Reneé." Then she turned toward Dylan. "And who are you?"

Her voice suddenly sounded demanding, not as playful as it had a moment ago.

Dylan looked a bit taken aback.

"I'm Dylan, Edw-"

"Oooh, you're the one that..." Renee's short cheerful moment passed again and she glared at Dylan. "You have got some explaining to do."

I looked at her and then at Dylan. I was obviously missing something here.

"Come on in, boys."

Renee stepped aside and let us into the house. She gestured for us to follow her and led us right into the living room.

The room was nicely furnished, mostly held in soft browns expect for a few things here and there which stood out. For example the painting canvas in the corner.

I couldn't decide what the painting was supposed to represent. All I could see was a blur of colours.

Another thing that caught my attention where the bright coloured picture frames all over the room.

Some were hanging on the walls and others were standing on a shelf.

Most pictures showed Bella and Chris throughout the years, the rest were family pictures.

One picture in particular caught my attention. It was the largest of them all and hung right above the TV. It was meant to catch the attention of everyone who entered.

I was pretty certain that the picture showed Bella and Chris as well. The girls were hugging each other whilst grinning into the camera.

Looking at their faces, I decided that they must have been about seven years old on that picture.

On the first look I couldn't see which one was which.

Both of them had brown hair with a slightly reddish tint. Their skin showed that they were outside a lot, not only because of the slight tan but also the small freckles that covered their noses.

When I looked closer I decided that Chris was the one with the piggy tails and Bella the one who wore her hair open.

Bella's face was a tiny bit rounder and softer, while Chris' looked a bit sharper. It wasn't a big difference though and one could hardly notice it.

It was hard to imagine that the girls on that picture were the same ones I knew.

"Hard to believe that those are the same girls, right?" Renee sighed.

I looked at her only to find her staring at the picture as well with a dreamy expression.

"They grew up so fast and so beautifully. It makes me feel old now that my little girls are turning into women." With that she turned to Dylan, who was inspecting the work on the canvas.

He noticed her semi-glare though and looked up.

"Um... where are Bella and Chris, anyway?" he asked, trying to sound casual. I could tell that he was definitely nervous.

Renee pulled a small grimace. "They are not at home right now. They both spent the night at a friend's place."

"Oh."

"Renee, are the girls back yet?" I heard a deep male voice ask.

I knew right away that is was the twins' father and I was pretty sure that my heart stopped for a moment.

Mr. Swan entered the room and stopped short when he caught sight of me and Dylan.

"Who are they?" he asked gruffly.

Mr. Swan was every bit as intimidating as I imagined him to be. He was a tall, well-build man in his forties, who looked like he could take out an entire army by himself.

His mustache did a good job at hiding his expression, although I was pretty sure that there was no expression on his face. He had a certain air around him which told me that I had to show this man my respect, no matter what.

There were two things about his appearance though that I didn't expect and made him a bit less scary.

The brown eyes that I had come to love so much where there placed right in his face, even though they didn't show the same love and adoration as his daughter's eyes did. In fact, his eyes were giving me a death glare, which reminded me a lot of Chris although her father's was by far more intimidating.

The other thing I noticed was his hair and I was reminded once more of Bella.

They both shared the same dark brown curls, but different than Bella's I didn't feel like running a hand through his.

"Edward and Dylan came to pay us a visit and the girls are not back yet. I'm sure they will be here soon, though," Renee said to her husband, oblivious to the tension that was slowly starting to build.

"Ah, the boyfriends," Mr. Swan said, making the word 'boyfriends' sound like it was dirty.

Renee rolled her eyes at her husband.

"Do you want anything to drink? I could make us tea or coffee until the girls are here," she asked, looking at me and Dylan.

"Coffee, please. Thanks, sweetie," Mr. Swan replied, lightly pushing his wife in the direction of the door.

Apparently, he didn't want us to have anything to drink.

Renee turned to look at us questioningly, but since I didn't want to drink anything I just shook my head and saw Dylan do the same.

"Have a seat, boys," Mr. Swan instructed as he went to get seated in the big arm chair.

Dylan and I looked at each other briefly before we both sat down.

"So... Edwin and Dustin," Mr. Swan started only to be interrupted by Dylan.

"It's Edward and Dylan, actually," he corrected.

It might have been wiser to keep his mouth shut, because the look he earned was truly chilling.

"You two are seeing my baby-girls, aren't you?"

"Yes, sir," I replied for the two of us, since Dylan was momentarily stunned by the look he had just been given.

"Who gave you the permission to do so?"

"Err...excuse me?"

I wasn't sure where this conversation was going, but the stare couldn't be a good sign.

"Who gave you the permission to be dating my girls? Certainly, it wasn't me. But someone must have given you the impression that it was okay for you to be dating them."

"For god's sake, Charlie. Cut it out," Renee barged in,balancing a tray in her hands.

She handed the requested coffee to her husband and took a seat beside me on the couch.

Mr. Swan grumbled something unitelligable and sipped on his coffee, while I was just immensely relieved by Renee's presence.

"I was just conversing with Edwin here," Mr. Swan said. "Ain't that right?"

He looked at me meaningfully.

"Err... yes, sir."

"Edward," Renee corrected, "His name is Edward."

"It's alright, Renee. I don't mind."

I really didn't mind. He could call me Cindy if he wanted to if only he would stop looking at me with that fierce glare.

A whisper outside of the room suddenly caught my attention and looking at the faces of the others, I knew that I wasn't the only one who heard it.

Mr. Swan's expression softened a bit at the sound, while Renee slowly got up and went to stand in the door frame.

"Good morning, puppies. Are you trying to hide, Chris?"

"No," I heard Chris' voice replied slowly, "Why would I do that?"

It was obvious that she had in fact been trying to hide.

Dylan stiffened at the sound of Chris voice, while I was curious to see why she had been trying to hide.

Renee threw a quick look at her husband as if to check that he wouldn't get up.

I wondered what that was about and got to my feet.

"Did you have fun at Jane's?" Renee asked, just as I peered over her shoulder.

Bella stood right in front of me, looking like she had just gotten home from a party night.

Her hair was messy, her clothes a bit rumpled and she looked tired. Still she was beautiful, like always.

She opened and closed her mouth when she caught sight of me, obviously not prepared to be seeing me.

The faint smell of alcohol entered my nose and I couldn't help but grin at Bella at the same time as I shook my head in disapproval.

Bella just looked at me in confusion, while Chris slowly turned around and scowled at me as soon as she saw me.

"What are you doing here?" Chris immediately snapped at me. I didn't expect anything else and just smiled at her, knowing that it would annoy her

"Dylan and I decided to visit our favorite twins," I told her truthfully, shifting my gaze back to Bella, who seemed to have trouble with closing her mouth.

"Dylan's here?" Chris squeaked as if that was a bad thing. I frowned at that. Something was obviously going on between those two. I saw how Renee and Bella both threw worried glances in Chris' direction.

"I'm gonna go and take a shower," Chris grumbled, turned and walked upstairs.

"I guess, I should change too," Bella sighed.

"And brush your teeth," Renee advised, "I can totally smell the alcohol and I'm sure the Chief won't like that much. Is already enough that the boys made an appearance."

The Chief. I had almost forgotten that Mr. Swan was not only a cop but also the Chief of Police.

The distress I felt when I thought about her father faded for a moment though, when Bella send me a small smile before she followed her sister upstairs. I watched her disappear until I felt a heavy hand drop down on my shoulder.

I flinched.

"We are going to take a short walk," Mr. Swan announced.

I didn't like the sound of this but I also knew that I had no choice really.

The 'walk' was actually just us going as far as the backyard allowed- a safe distance so no one in the house would hear me scream.

"So Edwin," Mr. Swan said, sitting down on a small bench and gesturing fr me to join him, "What does your father do for living?"

I frowned in confusion at this question. Why would he want to know that?

"Umm... my father is doctor and also the principal of the Academy," I replied slowly.

Mr. Swan seemed to be a bit surprised. "Really? How does he manage that? He can't be in to places at once, can he?"

I chuckled, thinking that it might very well be possible for my father to be in two places at once but of course I didn't say that out loud.

"No, the school has it's own hospital. He works there as often as his schedule allows."

"And what does your mother do?"

"She's an elementary teacher and also the headmistress of the elementary school."

"So both your parents work at the Academy?"

"Yes."

"And they both life on campus, don't they?"

"Yes, sir."

Mr. Swan nodded slowly.

"So did you introduce my little girl to your parents?"

"I did."

"Do they approve of her?"

"Very much so."

Mr. Swan grinned proudly for a moment, before he resumed his questioning.

"How many girls did you bring home before you met my Bella?"

It bothered me a little that her called her his Bella, but then again if anyone had the right to put a claim on her it should be her father seeing that he was the one who put her in this world.

"None," I answered truthfully.

Mr. Swan raised an eyebrow at me.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, sir. Bella is the first girl that I have introduced to my parents as my girlfriend."

He looked at me for a moment.

"Do you like football?"

I opened my mouth to answer before a quick thought entered my mind.

I grinned slightly as I opened my mind up the tiniest bit, allowing his thoughts to to mingle with mine.

"Of course and there is no better team than the Cardinals," I said, whilst rummaging through his mind to find more helpful thoughts.

Mr. Swan seemed to be pleased with the answer.

"Cardinals, huh? Trying to impress me boy? You should be a Seahawks fan."

"I know, I'm betraying my heritage but I've never really been a supporter of the Seahawks. Especially not after the last game against DC. It was just painful to watch."

The mustache twitched and I was pretty sure that I had him.

"You know, Edward, I can really see myself starting to like you."

I grinned at these news.

"But there are three things that I will never like: Criminals, my wife's cooking and my daughters' boyfriends. It doesn't matter what you do, I will never like you. Do you know why?"

Any positive feeling that had started to spread around within me instantly died and shook my head at the big intimidating man in front of me.

"Because no guy in this world is good enough for my little girls. I made them, I raised them and I know what is best for them. And as long as you don't accomplish something that is equal to me putting these two girls in this world you are not worthy to be her Bella's boyfriend."

Following the thoughts in his min I could see that he was actually serious about the things he said, despite the small amount of approval that was lingering in the back of his mind.

I didn't dare to correct him and tell him that it was technically his wife thathad put the two girls in this world. Instead I tried to come up with some response that didn't make me sound stupid.

Mr. Swan saved me the effort though, by speaking up again.

"Well, even if I don't like you- I will still tolerate you. I guess Bella could have done a lot worse."

Gee, thanks.

"I'm not so sure about your brother though," he continued, "So make sure that you pass on the following warning, because I'm only going to tell you this once."

I stared at him wide-eyed, not liking the way he leaned closer and how he lowered his voice.

"If you ever behave in an inappropriate manner around my daughter and I get to hear of it, make sure that you stay out of my sight. I don't tolerate nonsense. If I ever hear my daughter complain about you, make sure to run as fast as you can because I'm only be going to count to one. Tell that brother of yours that he should come up with a good reason for me not to shoot him.

Also, I don't want you to disrespect my daughter in anyway. She will tell me about it and once I know your life is finished.

I can go on and on like this but we both know that it's not necessary. You hurt her, you're dead. Only one last thing.

Just always keep in mind that I'm a cop. So if you behave in a manner unbecoming while you're with my daughter, I know how to cover up my tracks and the authorities will never find your body."

The fierceness in his eyes and the dark satisfaction that spread on his face made me gulp. The different scenarios that ran through his mind didn't help matters either.

This man was dangerous.

I shut myself out of his mind, not wanting to see any more bloody deaths of mine.

"I understand, sir," I said, despite the fact that I didn't understand at all. I just wanted to avoid getting on his bad side.

"Oh, you don't have to call me 'sir'. Chief Swan is okay."

Was this guy for real? Good thing that I cared deeply for Bella, otherwise this would be very hard to bear.

"Err... yes, Chief Swan?"

His expression changed slightly.

"So Edwin, since you're attending the same school as my daughter you must be a pretty good student, right?"

I wondered how long it would take him to actually call me by my real name.

"Yes, Chief Swan. I'm at the top of my class."

"You're not better than my daughter, are you?"

What was he getting at?

"I don't think so, Chief Swan. But we're not in the same class so I wouldn't know."

"You're starting your Senior year?"

I wondered just how much Bella had actually told her parents about me.

"No, Chief. I will be attending the college this year, after we finish our exams."

"College? Did you skip a grade?"

Apparently, she hadn't told them much.

Edward shook his head, leaning away a bit when my father who started to get a bit scary.

"How old are you boy?"

"I just turned 19."

He stayed silent and since I didn't know what to say I stayed silent as well.

"Dad, what exactly do you think you're doing?" the sweetest of voices suddenly piped up.

Turning around there she stood, looking as beautiful as always. Different than before she now looked more awake and was almost glowing.

While she argued with her father, I noticed that they must have a pretty good relationship and that there has to be more to this man than just his intimidating side.

When Bella corrected her father with my name, I briefly interfered but was thrown out of the conversation almost right away.

I knew for a fact that her father called me by the wrong name on purpose.

"Don't make me say it. We both know that teenagers these days are not as innocent as they used to be."

"What is that supposed to be telling me?"

"Bella, maybe you really should go back inside," I reasoned.

I didn't actually want her to go but I was still trying to get on his good side. Or at least as close to it as possible.

"Listen to Edwin and let us talk."

Bella's expression remained disbelieving and she crossed her arms.

"I won't talk to you for the rest of the year if you threaten to kill Edward one more time," she warned.

I almost chuckled at the expression on her father's face but knew better than to make a sound.

Bella turned on her heel and went back inside.

"She's a precious one," Mr. Swan murmured, looking after his daughter just like me.

"She sure is."

He cleared his throat, bringing my attention back to him.

"There is something I want to ask you, Edward," he started.

I was momentarily taken aback by the proper use of my name.

"Uhh...sure."

His expression turned serious but not as scary as before.

"Did something happen to my daughters?"

It took me a moment to process this question.

What exactly did he mean? He couldn't be referring to the incidents before the twins were being send home, could he?

"They've been different. Not much but I still noticed it."

"I can assure you that nothing worth happened during their stay at the academy," I lied swiftly.

Opening my mind to his thoughts once more, I carefully searched his mind.

The man was much more perceptive than I would have thought.

Dylan Pov

"Well, I guess you need to go upstairs and talk to Chris. She's been in a bad mood these past weeks and I believe that it's your fault."

Renee looked at me with raised eyebrows as she got up.

"My fault? I didn't even talk to her," I defended myself.

Renee threw up her hands in exasperation and left the room. That was probably my cue to go upstairs.

I slowly made my way out of the living room, trying to convince myself that it was completely idiotic to be nervous.

Just as I made it upstairs, a door opened and Chris came out.

Once she saw me her eyes narrowed but she just walked passed me without saying a single word.

She opened the door to my right and disappeared in what seemed to be her bedroom.

I moved to follow her but she slammed the door shut right into my face.

It was safe to assume that she was angry.

I opened the door and peaked into the room. By the looks of it, it was the room of both girls.

Chris sat on her bed with crossed arms and a scowl on her face.

"Umm... can I come in?" I asked her carefully.

She shrugged.

I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me.

"So... err.."I started but Chris interfered.

"What do you want?"

She didn't sound angry and now that I looked at her I saw that she had stopped scowling.

"Umm... I just wanted to talk to you?" I didn't even know why this came out as a question.

"I'm not in the mood for any break-up speeches, s you can just go again."

Break-up speech? What was she talking about?

"Did you want to break up with me?" I asked her. I hated the sound of this more than I would like to admit.

Now Chris looked surprised.

"No, I thought that you wanted to break up with me," she admitted after a short silence.

I moved to sit down on the edge of her bed and looked at her.

She looked kind of exhausted, which made me wonder what she did last night.

"What makes you think that?"

Just when I was starting to worry about the lack of emotion showing on her face, her temper flared up and she glared at me with the usual force.

I almost wanted to exhale in relief.

"Apart from the fact that you didn't talk to me for weeks? You didn't even come to say good-bye when Bella and I left."

I cringed. Of course she would get to that first.

"I'm sorr-"

"This is really frustrating on so many levels. First you keep complaining about how I don't give you a chance and how I am acting like a little kid and then when I finally give in and even ignore the note exchanging between you and some other chick, you decide to fall back into your asshole patterns and just left after getting what you wanted."

Chris was no longer sitting on her bed. She was pacing around the room, while she was ranting angrily.

"I didn't just leave—"

"Of course you did. You left early in the morning and didn't come back. This is the first time I actually get to see you again."

I sighed.

"I'm really sorry about that, Chris. I didn't want to make you think that I didn't care about you or anyhting. I just...felt like-"

"Like it was not necessary to continue being nice to me just because I already slept with you?"

"No," I instantly protested, "I just didn't want to take advantage of you and I feel like I did just that."

Chris opened her mouth only to close it again. She narrowed her eyes at me and shook her head.

"How were you taking advantage of me? I consciously decided to... take that step so what the hell is your problem?"

"I'm not so sure if you really decided to do it on your own."

"Are you not trusting my judgement?"

"Of course, I do... mostly. But in this case I might have influenced you a little."

"What?" Chris screeched. "Are you telling me that you used your mind tricks on me?"

"No," I shouted, "At least not on purpose."

"But accidently."

"I don't know."

"How can you not know."

"Because I don't."

"Wow, great. Now that's cleared up."

I groaned. I hated this conversation. "It's not that I used my gift but ever since that Aro-incident it has been a little out of control. I didn't tell anyone, but there are moments when people instantly react to my thoughts without me really doing anything. I wanted to sleep with you that night...and other nights for that matter, but I'm not sure if you decided out of free will or if my thoughts just kind of forced themselves upon you," I explained swiftly.

Admitting that I was not able to control my powers was the last thing I had intended to do. It wasn't supposed to happen since I had been working with my gifts for a pretty long time already.

"Is there anyway for me to know?" Chris asked.

"Well, there is always gift tracking- but my next check is still a few weeks away."

"Gift Tracking?"

"It's a spell telling you if a person used his or her gift frequently and sometimes it even shows when and where."

"Okay, is there any other way?"

"Well, some people said that their thoughts got a bit blurry when I used my gift on them. Others don't even remember anything."

"Meaning?"

"If you remember everything clearly, then I might have not meddled with your mind."

Chris looked at me for a moment and then looked at the floor, blushing.

"Yeah, I remember," she muttered.

I couldn't help but grin smugly at the blush that seemed to deepen even more.

Then she looked up and narrowed her eyes at me. Again.

I sighed. So apparently this wasn't over yet.

The good thing about an angry Chris was that she looked wonderful when she was angry.

Almost half of the time that I teased her was only to get her worked up. I found it oddly enticing to see her angry.

"This is no time for you to be smug about anything. Why didn't you just say so earlier and why in the world weren't you talking to me for weeks? You can't just do that. I'm not the type of girl who likes to spent her time waiting for her _boyfriend _to get his act together. You know I could have easily moved on during the time you weren't talking to me. Don't think that just because you had your hands on me once makes me your property."

Her anger was mixed with other emotions, her voice higher pitched than normal.

Something must have happened.

Chris started pacing again, tugging on her hair.

I wanted to ask her hat was wrong but she was faster.

"You know, I was beat up about this. I didn't even think it was possible. I really thought you didn't care about me anymore."

I got up and blocked Chris' way. I pulled her into my arms before she could react and buried my face in her hair.

"I'm sorry," I murmured. " I didn't want you to feel like that. I just wanted to give you some space and use this time for myself. I feel like I have to change for you."

Chris looked up at me with wide eyes. "I didn't ask you to change."

"I know that you didn't. I still want to."

"What for? You know, I already like you. The time to impress me is over."

"I know," I said softly, "But I want to be a better person for you. You're really important to me."

"You act like you are a bad person. You're not the one who needs to change for the better."

"What do you mean?" I had a feeling that she meant something specific and somehow I knew that I was not going to like it.

Chris shifted uncomfortably and I let her go so I could look at her better.

She bit her lip and started to play with her hair.

"Well... I've been really upset about this situation and... well...I might have been a bit drunk... and he was just there... and I assumed that you didn't care anyway... I'm sorry," she stuttered. I furrowed my brows at her, trying to make sense of her words.

"Since when do you drink alcohol?" I wondered not recalling ever having heard that either of the twins engaged in this kind of activities.

"Err... I don't really, but their butler makes really amazing cocktails."

"Who are they?"

Chris looked at her hands.

"Jane and Alec."

I just looked at her in question, since those names didn't tell me anything.

"They're friends. We stayed at their place last night," Chris explained slowly.

She was almost reluctant.

It took me a few moments to piece things together.

"You slept with that Alec guy?" I roared, before I could even think to compose myself.

"Wha- No! We just... made out?" she squeaked.

"Wow, that makes me feel so much better. You don't expect me to be really relieved that my girlfriend only made out with some other guy. One I never heard of before."

"Well, if you hadn't ignored me for weeks, I wouldn't even -"

"I didn't ignore you!"

"Yes, but I only know that now. I spent a few weeks thinking otherwise."

"So you just make out with some random guy?"

"It wasn't just some random guy," Chris replied lamely.

"That hardly matters."

The thought of someone else holding my Chris was not only unsettling but also strangely painful.

"I'm sorry, okay? I wasn't thinking straight and I was really upset. I know that it's not much of an apology but I really am sorry."

Looking at her face I noticed that her eyes were shimmering.

I wanted to be angry at her, to shout at her and stomp out but she had been right- she wasn't my property and I was already lucky that she was still talking to me after this fiasco.

Sighing, I sat back down on her bed.

"If it helps- I did tell him that I have a boyfriend and that I only made out with him because I was too drunk to refuse."

It did help a little but I didn't say anything.

Chris sat down beside me. She kept a bit of distance between us which bothered me a little.

"We suck as a couple, don't we?" I asked.

"Maybe a bit."

"Don't you think it's weird that the others are much closer to each other?"

"Not weird, just... us."

"Yeah but I always thought this whole couple thing would be different."

"What, do you want me to cling to you? I'm not sure if I can arrange that."

"Oh god, please no." Just the thought of Chris acting like my previous 'girlfriends' was enough to cause nightmares. It would be like salt on a chocolate cake- ruining an already perfect thing.

"Besides, I think we more than enough other things to do than cuddling and being disgustingly sweet to each other."

I snorted. "I don't think you'll ever be disgustingly sweet to me."

Chris giggled. "You're probably right about that."

We stayed silent after that. Chris let herself fall back on the bed.

"So where does that leave us now?" she asked.

I turned to luck at her and noticed her necklace for the first time.

She was wearing the gift stone.

I smiled involuntarily at that. Maybe it hadn't been such a stupid thing after all to have given it to her.

She looked at me in confusion.

"What?" she asked self-consciously.

My smile widened and I shook my head at her.

"Nothing. I just like your necklace."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**** Listening to Beethoven whilst typing is oddly inspiring. At times ;) Anyway... not much happening in this chapter, I know. I just didn't feel like adding anything else to it.**

**Chief Swan definitely wore me out and I don't think that I'll be able to type a talk between him and Dylan. My nerves just can't deal with that.**

**So tell me what you think and review- I'll answer ( just didn't get to it so far.)**

**Love you all**

**xoxo ~Star~**


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N:**_** I'm so so so so so sooooo sorry that it took so long for me to update :/ Real life just got in the way and didn't want to move away again. I had lots of things to take care of and simply couldn't find the time to type. I still don't really have the time, but I'm working on it and I managed to complete a somewhat decent chapter.**

**I hope you are not too angry with me...**

**I wish I could say that I have at least written one of my super-long chapter, but that is not the case.**

**I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer- which is also the reason why this chapter is not beta'ed yet.**

**So I apologize for all the mistake in advance and I hope you can enjoy the chapter anyway**

**Have fun!**

* * *

><p><em><span>Bella Pov<span>_

I looked at the clock in the kitchen. Damn.

I had almost forgotten that we wanted to meet with our friends at the country club.

With a sigh I trotted upstairs, telling my mother that I would be right back and that she shouldn't try out any weird food experiments without me supervising her.

When I got to Chris' and my bedroom, I opened the door carefully not sure if I would be interrupting something in there

Chris and Dylan had been awfully quiet for a while now.

I peeked inside only to find them both sitting on Chris' bed in silence.

"Umm... Chris?" I asked carefully, disturbing the silence. I wasn't sure what to make of this situation.

Both of them turned around,startled by my sudden appearance.

I raised my brows at that.

What was going on with them?

"Err... Were about to have lunch and we're supposed to meet up with the others later. Are you still in or...?" I let your voice trail off, not sure whether or not, Chris still wanted to go to the country club.

Chris' eyes widened at that and she threw a panicked look at Dylan. Dylan on the other hand, looked confused.

"Country club?" he asked slowly, looking back and forth between Chris and I.

"Yeah, some friends invited us to hang out with them there," she replied somewhat unwillingly.

"Should I tell them that we're not going? I mean, now that Edward and Dylan made the effort to visit us-"

I was interrupted by Dylan.

"I don't mind you going. Do you think Edward and I can come to? It sounds like it's going to be fun," Dylan mused.

"You can't!" Chris exclaimed abruptly, jumping up from her bed.

Her face was flushed and I could only imagine why.

"Why not?" Dylan narrowed his eyes at her.

"Because...well...just because," Chris snapped.

"Is it because of your new boyfriend?" Dylan's tone and posture had hanged. It seemed like he was pissed.

Chris threw her arms up. "He's not my 'new boyfriend'. I told you what happened and it was absolutely meaningless."

"Well, in that case it shouldn't bother you when Edward and I tag along," Dylan shot back.

For a moment the two of them just glared at each other, while I felt like I was a little out of place.

Eventually, Chris gave in.

"Fine, you can come with us," she said through gritted teeth and immediately stalked out of the room, pushing past me.

Dylan's shoulder's slumped once she was gone.

I was at loss of what to do.

"Bella?" Dylan said quietly.

"Yes?"

"Does she even care for me at all?"

The question surprised me but even more surprising were the emotions that were clearly heard in his voice. Desperation, sadness and thoughtfulness.

This kind of emotional display was rare for Dylan- if it had ever happened before.

I stopped staring at him in wonder and answered," Yes, she does. More so than you think."

I sent him a gentle smile, which he returned.

"Just show her you care as well- she had really been down these past weeks, thinking that you had abonded her."

With a sigh, Dylan heaved himself off the bed.

"It'll try my best. Thanks Bella."

He mussed through my hair as he walked out of the room.

I silently prayed that everything would work out between those two.

Not only for my sake, but for theirs as well.

They both had a tendency to be doing stupid things, so maybe it'll get better once the solidified their relationship.

Lunch with my parents and the boys went much better than I would have expected.

Mom was happily babbling about her newest artistic creations and Dylan was happy to listen.

They both talked about colours and what inspired enough for the rest of us.

Chris blushed when Dylan confessed that she and I were a source of his inspiration as well.

"Just don't get too inspired, I want my girls to stay in their sweet state of innocence," Dad grumbled, causing mom to almost choke, Chris to blush harder and Dylan to look way awkwardly.

Dad's eyes narrowed at that but he didn't say anything.

After lunch, Chris and I helped mom with putting away the dishes. She dismissed us quickly, claiming that we should change before meeting up with our friends.

I called Mia quickly to let her know that we were on our way and that Edward and Dylan would be joining us.

She squealed on the other end saying nonsense like 'I'm finally going to meet your Prince Charming' and 'I hope that Alec and Dylan won't fight over Chris':

I agreed with the latter, but didn't say so.

Ten minutes later we all sat in Mom's car, with Edward complaining that he didn't get to drive but I ignored him when I turned the ignition on.

Chris and Dylan were quiet on the backseat, the tension between them clearly visible.

I sighed at that but then ignored them, babbling happily to Edward about all the things I had been doing so far during the vacation.

After a more or less relaxed ride, we pulled up in front of the country club.

I couldn't help but gawk at the huge compound with the mansion in the background.

"Are these your friends?" Edward asked, turning my attention back to him.

I followed his gaze to the group of teenagers that stood in front of the gates.

"Yes, they are," I replied.

Chris got out of the car as soon as I turned the car off, dashing away at high speed.

She was greeted with squealing and hollers, everyone reaching for her to pull her in a hug.

By the time the Edward, Dylan and I got out of the car she was joking around with the boys.

It didn't escape my notice that Alec kept his hand on her lower back.

With a quick look in Dylan's direction, I could tell that he noticed the same thing as I had.

"Bella!" Mia, Ruby and Tyra called at the same time. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

Sometimes the three of them could be a bit annoying at times.

"Hey girls," I greeted them, "Edward and Dylan meet the girls- Tyra, Mia, Ruby and Jane."

I gestured to each one of them, while the girls gaped in return.

Edward and Dylan- ever so polite- shook the hands of each of them, smiling charmingly.

I was surprised that the girls didn't faint.

I quickly introduced them to the boys as well an while the guys were making their acquaintance, I was assaulted by the girls.

"Why didn't you tell me that your boyfriends are some kind of supermodels?" Mia hissed and pulled Chris to her side.

"What?" Chris asked, completely disoriented.

"Where do you get drool-worthy guys like these?" Tyra inquired, taking off her cap to fan herself with it.

"Err...in Forks?" Chris answered confusedly.

"Why do you cheat on a guy like that with someone like Alec?" Mia pulled on her ear, whilst asking that.

Chris let out a hiss of pain, before she slapped Mia's hand away.

"Bella, are there more of these little cuties in Forks?" Ruby asked, biting her lower lip, while she stared at my boyfriend.

"Probably," I replied, thinking of Emmett and Jasper, "But those I know are already taken."

"I should ask my parents if I can go to school in Forks," Jane mumbled.

"You do that, can we now please get in there and start playing golf? I didn't put on a mini-skirt for nothing," Chris said, shaking her behind as if to emphasize her point.

"Ready to go in girls?" Matt asked.

Sounds of agreement were the answer and as if one cue, the gates opened.

"Did you organize cool golf carts for us?" Mia asked Matt while she grabbed a hold of his hand.

Matt shot her a wide grin, while we trailed toward the mansion.

"Of course, I did. The whole thing would only be half so good without the carts."

"Amen!" Alec exclaimed and threw his arm around Chris' shoulder, who let out a girly giggle.

Edward appeared by my side.

"This is going to be a long and painful afternoon," he murmured, gesturing over to his brother, who was busy trying to glare Alec to death.

"Oh yes," I sighed in agreement.

The afternoon turned out to be less painful than expected. Although, it was long nonetheless.

Matt had really organized golf carts for us, which was probably the best part of the afternoon, since most of us couldn't really play golf.

Matt was of course brilliant at it and so were Jane and Alec. The rest of us did okay- if not even horrible.

I had beaten more holes in the lawn than anyone else, while Ruby managed to throw her club into the air a couple of times.

Everytime it was her turn, we all stood in a safe distance.

Edward actually got a hang of the game fairly quickly, which didn't really surprise me, while his brother just made the balls disappear.

A few times we watched how Alec tried to help Chris, invading her personal space on regular bases, which seemed to be annoying her at some point.

After Alec had tried to show her how to swing properly, she had just stomped off claiming to take a bathroom break.

When Jane wanted to join her Chris just snapped at her and drove off in one of the golf carts.

Dylan disappeared merely a few moments after that as well, while the rest of us were still trying to get a hang of this game and ignore Alec's no pretty bad mood.

"I guess that Chris and Alec will not be our new dream couple," Tyra whispered and then giggled quietly.

"Doesn't surprise me really," Mia said, "Dylan is far more good-looking and he seems to be nice enough. Just like his brother."

She patted Edward's shoulder while saying that, grinning brightly at him.

Edward looked a bit confused for a moment as if he didn't know what to make of this.

"Don't worry she is not hitting on you," I clarified, which seemed to put him more at ease.

After an hour of sucking at playing golf and disturbing the other people on the court with our laughter and bickering, we decided that it was time to eat something.

Inside the mansion was actually a small cafe and we all sat down there on one of the bigger tables.

Chris and Dylan rejoined us, both of them looking a bit flushed.

The girls immediately assaulted her wanting to know what had happened, while Chris ignored them and stole my milkshake.

Meanwhile Dylan and Alec were engaged into a serious glaring battle.

After a while Chris gave up:

"Will you people shut up?"

"Of course, as soon as you tell us what went on between you and the GQ-model," Ruby insisted.

Chris sighed.

"I went to the bathroom, like I said I would and he was waiting outside to get on my nerves like he usually does."

"And that took up an entire hour?" I asked in disbelieve, stealing my milkshake back.

Chris shot me a look of annoyance.

"No," she replied slowly, "but I don't really want to go into detail. It's none of your concern."

"Oh my gosh, you had sex in the bathroom," Mia screeched now earning the attention of the guys as well, who actually had their own conversation going.

Dylan raised his eyebrows at Chris, who shrugged and rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile, Adrian asked Tyra what he had missed.

I leaned over to Chris.

"Am I right with assuming that you two sorted your issues out?" I whispered to her.

Chris' face didn't show any reaction, but through the bond I felt a trickle of an emotion I couldn't place.

It was a warm and fuzzy feeling, which I was familiar with so I just guessed that they had sorted it out.

Even though our alcohol- adventure had been quite some time ago, the bond was not in fully recovered yet.

I leaned back, a small smile playing at my lips.

_Chris Pov_

"Okay, you have to hod it like this and put your feet right in front of mine," Alec explained.

His voice was right beside my ear, which was not surprising seeing that he stood behind me, reaching around me to show me how hold that stupid golf-thing properly.

"And now swing."

I did as he told me, really wishing to swing this thing at his head.

One night of drunken stupidity and what you get in return was an annoying , wanna-be sexy gold instructor.

I didn't even look where the ball went to. I just quickly wiggled out of Alec's grasp.

How was I supposed to clear things up with Dylan when I had him breathing into my ear at all times?

"Hey Chris, you're not done yet," Alec told me.

"I don't care. I need to use the bathroom," I announced and strutted off.

"Should I go with you?" Jane asked, already falling in step with me.

"I'm perfectly capable of peeing on my own," I snapped at her.

I jumped into the nearest cart and made a quick escape.

Everything just sucks. My life had been so much better before I had been shipped off to Forks.

I parked the golf cart in the small parking lot and went into the mansion to search for a bathroom.

After eight minutes of aimlessly walking around in the oversized building, I gave up and asked an elderly woman for help. She was kind enough to lead me to my desired destination.

I stood in front of the mirrors for a while, staring at my reflection.

Whatever it was that Dylan saw in me- or used to see- I didn't find it.

Thinking off the devil...

Dylan suddenly appeared behind me.

"You know that this is the ladies' room, right?" I asked him.

He just shrugged.

For a moment we just looked at each other's mirror reflections.

"So... is there any specific reason why you followed me into the bathroom?"

"I just wanted to make sure that you don't do anything stupid in here," he replied.

"Like what? Drowning myself in the toilet?"

"Something like that."

I sighed and turned around to face him.

"I'm sorry," I blurted out at the same time as he said the exact same thing.

I frowned at him. "What are you sorry for? You didn't go and make out with anyone, did you?"

A pained smile appeared on Dylan's face. "No, but I'm sorry for hurting your feelings. I should have talked to you and I feel bad that I didn't. It's just all very new to me."

"What is? Sleeping with a girl and then just vanishing?" I asked sarcastically.

"Sleeping with a girl and then realizing how much I really care for her," he said,more or less ignoring my question.

My traitorous heart skipped a beat at that.

"You only realized afterwards?"

Dylan rolled his eyes.

"No, I did care for you before- a lot. But I didn't think that my feelings would intensify later on."

Another skip.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I ran out of witty comments so I closed it again.

Dylan stepped closer.

"I don't blame you for getting cozy with that Alec guy. I actually blame him because he used you when you were the most vulnerable. But I blame myself even more, because it was my fault that he even got to use you like this."

His blue eyes were boring intently into mine, leaving me with no doubt that he was speaking the truth.

I tried to hold his gaze but my vision suddenly blurred.

I somehow felt better hearing this but at the same time I felt incredibly bad for being so stupid.

I kept making a mess of things and if I kept it up like that than I would surely get Dylan to run away and never come back.

I felt his hand on my cheek.

"Don't cry," he muttered soothingly, wiping away a tear.

I hadn't actually realized that I was crying.

I took deep breaths, trying to stop the waterworks.

It didn't help.

Dylan closed his arms around me and stroke my hair in a soothing manner.

I buried my face in his chest, inhaling his scent and instantly feeling better.

"I'm sorry for always being so horrible to you. I'm sorry for not letting you know how much I care for you. I'm sorry for doubting you and I'm sorry for betraying you," I blubbered, my voice muffled.

"It's okay."

Despite the fact that he actually only said two words in response, I felt better.

I wrapped my arms tightly around him, not wanting to let go.

I felt a familiar pull and suddenly I was sitting.

I let go of Dylan and found myself in the car.

"Umm..."

"Did you want to stay in that bathroom? I was just worrying that someone might walk in on us," Dylan explained before I even asked.

"We weren't even doing anything."

"But I was not supposed to be in there."

"True."

"And I really wanted to do that."

Before I could ask what he was talking about, he pressed his lips against mine.

A burn went through my entire body and suddenly Dylan was gone.

I opened my eyes and saw that he was leaning back from me.

"Is that ever going to stop?" he asked me with raised brows.

"What do you mean?"

"You trying to burn me to ashes."

So that was where the burn came from.

I smiled sheepishly at him.

"I'm sorry. I can't really control that."

Dylan rolled his eyes.

"Does that mean you won't kiss me again?" I asked carefully.

He grabbed my arms and swiftly pulled me on his lap. I didn't know how he did it.

"No, I don't want to deny you the chance of killing me."

"How nice of you."

"The things I do for the girl I love."

I froze.

"What?" I whispered.

"What?" Dylan asked back, looking at me in confusion. Then his expression changed.

"You love me?" I said the words slowly, trying to define the feeling I felt inside. It was the same weird tingle I always got with Dylan near.

"Umm..."

"It doesn't really surprise me. I'm the most lovable person in the world," I joked.

Dylan snorted at that.

I slapped him on his chest.

"You're not supposed to laugh."

"You're not lovable at all. You're a bully."

"And you're an asshole, which doesn't stop me from loving you so..."

"You love me?" Dylan repeated my earlier words.

I wondered where that suddenly came from. Thinking about it, I might have been feeling like this for quite some time already and knowing that he loved me as well, only made me feel better.

I tried to keep myself from grinning like a fool and only shrugged nonchalantly.

"Why else would I put up with you?"

"Because I'm an amazing kisser?"

"That would be reason number 2."

"Only number 2?"

I rolled my eyes at him but couldn't hide the smile anymore now that he was grinning at me.

"If we keep talking instead of kissing it might only be number 3," I told him.

And that was all it took him to press his lips to mine again.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Maybe we should rejoin the others," I proposed.

"No, I'm way too comfortable," Dylan protested, his voice muffled.

"Of course you are. You have a wonderful cushion."

"I know. And it smells great as well."

"It's also going to be crushed to death by your weight."

"Are you telling me I'm fat?"

"I'm telling you that you are heavy," I replied.

He rose his head from the crook of my neck.

"It's all muscle."

"Is that supposed to impress me?"

"Are you impressed?"

"A little bit," I allowed.

He smiled at me and pecked my lips swiftly before he got off of me.

"Let's go then."

He took my hands and teleported us out of the car.

Using the still not fully intact bond, we went to find the others.

We eventually found them in a cafe, all of them sitting together, chatting happily.

We took the last two empty seats.

I didn't really want to sit so far from Dylan but was happy enough not to complain.

Our appearance made the other curious of course. My happy buzz was killed by the girls, asking nosy questions which I tried to ignore.

I could tell that Bella was pleased that Dylan and I made up.

_Bella Pov_

I let out a yawn.

"Tired?" Chris asked.

"Starting to miss my bed," I told her.

"Yeah, me too."

"Maybe it's time to head back home," Ruby suggested.

"What? It's not that late yet," Jane protested.

"You forget that we spent the night at your place, not sleeping as much and as well as we could have."

"Psh, my carpet is comfortable."

"My back doesn't really agree with you on that. But it might also have to do with the fact that Bella used me as a pillow,"Adrian threw in.

Instantly, three pairs of eyes stared at me in disbelief.

"What? I don't remember how he ended up as my pillow," I defended myself to Edward, Dylan and Chris.

"Maybe we should get going before we're in the middle of that drama," Mia muttered.

I shot a quick glare.

"Hey, I don't mind if we are going to end this day now. I'm starting to miss my bed," Matt said.

"Good, then we are going. Was nice to chill with you guys," Chris called and immediately jumped up.

She waved quickly at everyone and strutted out.

"Well, she seems to be in a hurry," Jane noted.

Everyone made agreeing sounds before we got up as well and bid our good-byes.

"So what did you and Chris do during your absence?" Edward asked Dylan casually, as we walked toward the car.

He held my hand tightly in his, looking knowingly at his brother.

Chris was leaning against the car, talking on her phone.

"Nothing that you need to know," Dylan replied.

"I'll find out anyway."

Dylan just waved him off.

In the corner of my eye I saw Chris pacing around now.

Watching her I realized that she seemed to be arguing or something of the sort.

My ears perked up as soon as we got into hearing range.

"I already said that I didn't do anything... I don't know, Mom!" she shouted.

I looked at Edward in question, who's brows furrowed as soon as he looked at Chris.

"Yes, we'll be right there," Chris sighed.

She ended the call and looked up at us.

"We need to get home," she informed us, her voice sounding grave.

"What happened?" I asked her.

For some reason, I had a feeling that something had bad had occurred.

"I don't know. Apparently we've got visitors waiting for us at home and Mom's freaking out. She thinks that I did something illegal or something. Why would she even think that?"

Chris threw up her arms in exasperation.

I opened my mouth only to close it again. I didn't have anything to say to that.

"I'll drive," Edward said and snatched the keys out of my hand.

"Let's get going," Dylan urged and opened the passenger's door, gesturing for me to get in.

I slid into the seat, while Chris and Dylan quickly got into the back.

Edward sped off in the exact moment the last door closed.

"Do you even remember the way?" I asked him. The speed at which he was going was alarming me.

"You really have to ask that? You should know by now that your boyfriend is a freak," Dylan commented.

"Being able to remember simple things does not make me a freak," Edward protested.

"No, but driving like you are trying to escape the police does," Chris grumbled.

"Do you always drive like this?" I inquired.

"What do you have against my driving?" Edward looked at me in question.

"Eyes on the road," Chris hissed.

"Your driving is scary," I admitted.

"Well, you wanted to get back home fast. I'm just making it possible," Edward defended himself.

"As long as you don't wrap the car around a tree trunk."

Edward sighed and rolled his eyes.

Right then, my phone started ringing.

I fished it out of my pocket and checked the caller ID.

I frowned in confusion.

"Hello?"

"Bella, where are you?" I heard Laurent's voice ask.

The connection was very bad.

"I'm on my way home," I replied slowly.

"Good. When you get home... strange...worry..."

"Err... what?"

His voice was quiet and only parts of what he said came through.

Whatever he said next was too quiet for me to hear.

I was about to ask him to repeat that but the line went dead before that.

I looked at the phone in my hand, confused about what had just happened.

"Who was that?" Chris asked curiously.

I felt her reaching through the bond, but it seemed like she couldn't really get to me.

"It was Laurent," I told her.

"Napoleon?" Chris asked in wonder.

I just nodded.

"What did he want?"

"I'm not sure- the line went dead."

"We're here," Edward announced and parked the car in it's usual spot.

"I hope your Dad is not waiting with his gun for us," Dylan mumbled as he got out of the car.

We all followed suit and walked up to the house.

"You have visitors," Edward informed me, when we stood at the front door.

"Who is it?" Chris asked him.

"I can't tell you. Whoever it is took some psych blockers. The effect the is wearing off but it's still enough to keep my out. I can only tell you that there are three people in there- apart from your mom."

"Let's just go in and see who it is," I said and opened the door.

I had an eerie feeling as I stepped in. It was too quiet inside- especially since we knew that the house was not empty.

Walking slowly toward the living room, I grabbed Edward's hand for reassurance.

"Ah, Isabella!"

A man rose from the couch, looking at me with a smile.

Mom stood in the corner of the living room, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

I couldn't exactly read her expression.

Two more people got off the couch and looked at us expectantly.

"And Christabel," the man continued, walking up to us, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Umm... who are you?" Chris and I asked at the same time.

We only got a smile in return.

The woman amongst the three of them stepped forward.

"That's enough, Eleazar," She said softy, tapping his shoulder lightly.

The man, Eleazar, nodded and took a step behind.

"Hello Isabella and Christabel," the woman greeted us then in a gentle voice.

She was beautiful and seemed to be around my mother's age. Her black hair stood in stark contrast with her light skin and the long white cloak she was wearing.

The two men were wearing cloaks as well, but theirs were dark blue.

It all seemed a little odd.

"Am I right with the assumption that you are the sons of Carlisle Cullen?" she inquired, looking first at Edward and than at Dylan.

Edward nodded in answer.

"Very well then. I guess you are wondering who we are-"

"No shit, Sherlock," Chris muttered.

The woman threw a brief look at Chris, but just continued speaking, " My name is Didyme and these are Eleazar and Garrett."

I looked at Chris, who returned my look with raised eyebrows.

At least I was not the only one that was confused.

"You know, I don't care who you are- I just want to know what you want from my little girls," Mom suddenly piped up.

She put her hands on her hips, looking fierce.

"Mrs. Swan, we already told you that this is something between us and the girls."

"I am their mother. I have a right to know what is going on and one of you is going to tell me."

"I'd also love to know what's going on," Chris commented.

I heard the front door open and close at that moment.

When I turned, I practically came face to face with Laurent.

"Didyme, what are you doing here?" He didn't even look at anyone else but the black-haired woman.

Her face lightened up when her eyes settled on him.

"Laurent, it's nice to see you again." She sounded delighted.

Meanwhile, I was just wondering what was going on in here.

"You weren't supposed to just waltz in here."

"But Marcus wanted to see the twins."

Laurent just let out an exasperated sigh.

"Does anyone care to tell us what is happening?" I barged into the conversation.

"I'm sorry, this is not how it was supposed to be," Laurent started slowly, "Marcus asked to see you and-"

"Why does this Marcus guy think he can just send a bunch of people over to make us go with them?" Chris complained.

"It's not just that," Didyme and Laurent said at the same time.

We all looked back and forth between them.

"We have reason to believe that you are currently not safe at home," Laurent explained.

"Which is why Marcus thought it would be best if we took you with us," Didyme continued.

"Excuse me, what are you talking about?" Mom stepped away from the wall,waving her arms to gain our attention. "You can't just take my daughters with you."

"Mrs. Swan, I know this may be a lot to ask of you but we need you to trust us-"

Mom looked at Didyme with wide eyes before she turned to us.

"I'm going to call your father. Don't you dare moving even an inch."

With these words she strutted out of the living room.

"Didyme, what were you thinking? You can't just come in here and demand to take the twins with you," Laurent hissed, pushing past me to close the distance between him and Didyme.

"But they are in danger-"

"Their parents don't know anything about these things. Isabella and Christabel are regular-borns, have you forgotten about that?"

"No, but I don't see how that matters right now."

Laurent let out another sigh. "You have been in Trydian for too long."

"Trydian?" Dylan's voice made me jump. I had almost forgotten all about the boys' presence.

The four adults all turned to look at him.

"You don't mean the magic country Trydian that has been destroyed hundreds of years ago, do you?"

"Now see what you did, Laurent," one of the cloaked men, Garrett, fumed.

"We have no time for this," Laurent countered and waved his hand dismissively.

Mom chose that moment to reappear in the room.

"The Chief will be here in two minutes. He was already on his way home," she announced, looking at all of us.

These two minutes must have been the most awkward minutes in my life.

No one spoke in that time.

The three cloaked people and Laurent all stood perfectly still, not moving a single muscle, which I found very unsettling.

Chris was fidgeting nervously, playing with her hair or tugging on her clothes.

Edward was leaning against the door frame, watching me closely although it seemed like his mind was somewhere else entirely.

Dylan seemed to be deep in thought as well and I was left to deal with the hard stare of my mother.

Finally, I my father entering the house and it was as if his arrival made us all more at ease.

Normally, the opposite occurred once he stepped foot into a room.

"So Reneé, what is going on?" he asked, before he even reached us.

When he looked up and saw all of us standing in the living room, his eyes narrowed and his steps slowed.

"Who are all these people?"

"They want to take our daughters," Mom told him swiftly.

Dad studied each of the persons in the room, before he moved past them to sit down in his arm chair.

Mom was immediately by his side.

"It is nice to see you again, Charlie," Didyme spoke after a few more moments of silence.

"What?" Mom, Chris and I screeched at the same time.

This was just... I didn't even have words for that.

Dad merely grunted in response.

"Charlie, do you know this woman?" Mom shrieked. Her face was starting to look a little red.

"I see that you still haven't told you wife about me,"Didyme sat down in the arm chair on the other side of the coffee table, "You had seventeen years to do so."

Chris and I looked at each other, both of us utterly confused.

How did Dad know this woman? And who was she anyway?

"I said that I wanted to keep my wife out of this," Dad responded calmly.

"Charlie, what's the meaning of all this?" Mom whispered.

"Reneé, we will talk later."

Dad looked at her sternly, taking her hand off his shoulder and holding it tightly in his.

Mom slowly nodded at him.

"Charlie, I'm going to take your daughters with me," Didyme proclaimed, not looking like she cared about the exchange between my parents.

"That's not part of the deal."

"I know that. It's not for my use, really," she chuckled. "We need to get them somewhere safe."

"They are at home. I don't know how this is not safe," Dad argued.

"Our enemies are nearby and they are targeting the twins. We just want to take them out of the line of fire."

Dad pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. "For how long?"

"Probably until school starts again," Didyme answered right away.

"We won't see them for months then."

"They'll be home for Christmas. We'll make sure that everything will be safe by then."

A pause.

"Fine," Dad accepted. "You can take my girls, but I want you to take good care of them- or better yet, take let the boys come along."

At this point my mind was racing.

I didn't know what was going on. The only information that my brain managed to process was the fact that Chris and I were apparently in danger.

What exactly was that danger? Did Aro return?

I shivered at the thought.

"Well, I can't take them along right away, but I'll make arrangements for them to join us. Is that alright?"

Dad nodded.

"Good," Didyme got up and turned to look at me and Chris. "Have your things packed by tomorrow morning. I'll send Laurent to come and pick you up."

Neither Chris nor I made indicated in any way that we had acknowledged her words.

It didn't seem to deter her.

"I'll be leaving now. It was nice to see you again, Charlie. I wish all of you a wonderful evening."

She smiled lightly at all of us, before she gracefully slid out of the room. The three men followed her, although Laurent seemed to hesitate for a moment.

For a few moments, there was not a single word being said.

Then I felt Chris' impatience through the bond.

"Dad, do you mind telling us what just happened?" she demanded.

Dad got up and walked up to us.

"You know what happened. You'll be leaving tomorrow."

"How do you know this woman?" I asked.

He stood in front of us, putting his hands on our shoulders.

"She put seals on both of you when you were little," he replied, looking intently at us.

I stared back at my father. My mind was completely blank.

"How-" Chris started, but Dad interrupted her.

"She is my sister."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:**_**Finally, some drama again! It has been driving me crazy to just type about random things... although I always do that. Anyway, I hope that you liked the chapter.**

**Again, I apologize for every single mistake that has been made- my mind wasn't really into it while I was typing. I'm also sorry for changing the Pov so much...I accidently switched back to Bella's Pov without noticing -.-'**

**Okay so tell me what you think- I really need some reviews to cheer me up. Besides, if you keep nagging in your review that I should update I will get to it much faster (yes, I read all of the 'Update already' reviews and each time I got to work right away)**

**So yeah... lot's of love to all of you xoxo**


	4. Chapter 4

******_A/N:_****Phew, it really took a lot of work to finish this chapter. Sorry for taking so long -.-'**

**Anyway, this chapter is only half way beta'ed so please excuse all of the mistakes that I've made.**

**A few things are going to be explained in this chapter, so I hope you'll enjoy it- I'll be at the bottom :)**

* * *

><p><strong>Chris POV<strong>

For various moments no one said anything.

"You have a sister?" my mother finally interrupted the silence. Dad only nodded. "How did I not know about this?"

"We're not related by blood. She is actually my stepsister. You know that my mother got remarried when I was fourteen. Didyme had barely been around; she was at some fancy school in Italy. I only saw her during the summer break and we never really bonded. We got along but we're not really close to each other," he explained.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but that doesn't explain why we all didn't know anything about her," Bella threw in.

"She always kept her distance, it was almost like she didn't want to belong to the family – that's why I never really involved her. Reneé, you've already met my sister, you just forgot all about it. When you were pregnant with the girls there were strange things happening and one day we visited my family. Didyme noticed what was going on and she helped you, but she also made you forget about her. She told me that I probably should tell you about her and the girls, so that you would be prepared for things in the future. I didn't do it..."

"Charlie, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about," Mom cut him off.

To be honest, he really didn't make much sense.

Dad sighed. "I don't know how to say this... My sister and the girls are..." he let his voice trail off.

Bella and I exchanged a look. What did he know?

Edward cleared his throat. "They are witches," Edward completed.

We all turned to look at him.

I stared at him in disbelief and I was pretty sure that Bella gave him the same look.

Edward looked back at us with no expression on his face. "Your father already knew that," he told us.

Now we looked at Dad, who seemed to be a little uncomfortable.

"How do you know that I know?" he asked Edward.

Edward smiled slightly. "I can read minds."

Dad's expression turned sour.

"I'm sorry, but if this is supposed to be a joke, then it's not a good one," Mom piped up, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

I understood her just all too well.

Bella walked over to Mom and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's not a joke. Chris and I really are witches," she explained calmly.

Mom only snorted at that. "I don't have to believe this, do I?"

"No, you don't have to, but it's still the truth," Dad said.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. Your stepsister is a witch and when Mom was pregnant with us there were weird things happening because of us being witches as well." Dad nodded. "Then she did what, put a seal on Mom?" Another nod. "And when we were born, she probably came to take the seal away from Mom. And then she saw us and just thought it would be fun to seal our powers?"

Dad shook his head. "It wasn't like that. Yes, she came to the hospital to take the seal from your mother, because she no longer had any magical powers to be sealed away. I was scared that similar things would happen again when you two grew up. I didn't want you to be witches. I wanted a normal family and I wanted you to fit in with the other children – so I asked Didyme to seal away your powers.

"She didn't like the idea very much and told me that she would only seal a part of it. Then she must have seen something when I let her see you. She was so awed when she saw you that I wondered what that was about. She told me that she would seal away your powers but that the seal would break at some point.

"Didyme told me that it would probably make sense if I prepared you and your mother before the seals broke, but I couldn't bring myself to tell you. She also said that she would have to take you with her once you were finished with school. At first I didn't agree, but she told me that you were special and that she needed to take you along for some time and she refused to put a lasting seal on you if I didn't agree. So I did.

"You and Bella were such wonderful kids. Smart, beautiful and you got along with everyone. I didn't want you to be different and so I didn't tell you. Then when you saved that girl from the fire in your school, I knew that the seal must have broken. I had been worried how this would work out but then everything stayed normal and you got that scholarship, so I stopped worrying."

It took a moment for me to digest this information.  
>"Whoa," I heard Dylan breath out. That pretty much summed up my thoughts.<p>

"So you've been lying to us our entire life?" I asked him after a few moments. I felt how my temper was starting to flare up.

"Chris," Bella warned.

I just quirked an eyebrow at her and crossed my arms.

"I wasn't lying to you – I just..."

"Kept the truth from us so your perfect family wouldn't be ruined," I ended for him.

Dad flinched at the sharp sound of my voice but I couldn't really bring myself to care.

"It is nice to know that you were willing to give us away just so you could have a normal life."

"Maybe you should calm down, Chris," Dylan murmured, suddenly standing right behind me.

"I don't want to calm down. My own father thinks that I'm a freak and found it perfectly okay to sell us to his _step_sister just to have things the way he wanted them to be," I snapped.

A wave of hurt crashed down on me.

It wasn't entirely my own. Looking at Bella, I saw her looking down to the ground.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your show, but I really want to know what is really going on – enough with the nonsense," my mother said. She walked to the center of the room and looked at each of us with a demanding expression.

"Reneé," Dad started but was interrupted by Bella.

"It's not nonsense. It's pretty sad and infuriating, to be honest. I'm gonna go and pack my things." She started to make her way out of the room, but Mom grabbed her arm.

"No one is going anywhere without telling me the truth."

I saw Edward jerk slightly in Bella's direction.

Mom let go of Bella's arm, since she had halted in her movements and looked at her intensely.

"The truth is that your husband seems to be a selfish liar," I spat, glaring at my father.

He just sat there, looking down at the ground.

Mom stomped her foot on the ground. "I refuse to believe this story. This is not some Disney movie, so stop making up ridiculous things like you being witches," she shrieked.

I was still looking at Dad, who didn't think it was necessary to look at his daughters.

Hurt and anger mixed within me and only intensified each second.

I felt how Dylan stepped away from me.

"Chris," I heard Bella hiss at me.

I looked at her and found her looking at me in disapproval. _You need to control yourself. You can't set the house on fire – at least not yet._

The sound of her voice in my head surprised me and momentarily broke the spell of my anger.

Looking down, I noticed how my hands were blazing. Frowning, I concentrated on quenching the flames. Reluctantly, they left, although I could feel that they shared my anger and just wanted to help me express it.

I turned on my heel and waltzed out of the room. Bella was quick to follow me.

Once we were both in our room, we collapsed on Bella's bed, since it was closer to the door.

The boys walked in as well, both of them watching us with worried expressions.

For a few moments, no one said anything.

Then I felt how pure sadness took over Bella's being.

Before I could react, Edward was already kneeling in front of her, wiping away her tears.

"I can't believe that he just lied to us... how can he even sell us out like that?" she blubbered.

I wanted to comfort her, but I didn't know what to say to her.

Bella looked up at me and sent me a watery smile, obviously sensing my intention.

"Bella, love, don't be so hard on him. He only did what he thought was the right thing to do," Edward said soothingly.

I pulled a grimace at that and got off the bed, going over to our small walk-in closet, and frowning. We had too many things to pack.

"I'll take care of the packing," Dylan offered.

I turned around and found him standing right behind me again. Without saying anything, I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him tightly.

Dylan returned the hug, running a hand through my hair. "Don't worry, everything will work out."

I didn't respond to that. I wasn't even sure if he knew what he was talking about. I was just grateful for him trying to comfort me.

"Let me pack your things; you go and get some sleep. Who knows how early Mr. Decour will turn up."

I shook my head. "I don't wanna sleep. I don't really want to stay here for another minute," I whispered.

"But this is your home—"

"Yes, but I can't stand to have my father around right now. I don't want to see him. I need time before I can manage to be around him without the urge to burn everything down," I admitted.

Dylan sighed and let me go. I still had my arms around him, but that didn't seem to bother him when he turned around slightly. "Edward, do you think we can take the girls with us to the hotel?" he asked his brother.

I peeked around him to see Edward's reaction. He was rocking a sobbing Bella back and forth and looked up at his brother. Then he whispered something to Bella. She nodded and Edward smiled slightly at him.

"I think we can," he then answered Dylan's question.

"But we need to pack," Bella exclaimed suddenly and jumped up.

"Don't worry about it, love. Dylan is taking care of that."

Bella looked at Dylan in question.

"Just tell me what you want to take with you," he said gently.

"Everything," I told him gravely.

Dylan shook his head at me. "I'll find out myself."

"Well then, let's go," Edward announced and got up.

"What? Are we leaving now?" Bella sniffed.  
>"Yes. Unless you want to stay here a little longer..."<p>

Bella and I shook our heads at the same time.

"Then I'll drive you."

"And Dylan?" I asked.

"I still have to pack your things. I'll manage," he winked at me.

I finally let go of him and nodded.

He reached into his pocket and handed me a card. "Here, that's the key card to my room. You can choose the sleeping arrangements." He placed a chaste kiss on my lips. "See you later."

I followed Edward and Bella out of the room.

At the bottom of the stairs, Bella froze. "We need to tell Mom and Dad," she whispered.

A flare of anger went through me again. "I'm handling that," I promised and gestured for her and Edward to keep going.

Bella looked worried but went anyway.

As soon as the door closed behind those two, I went to the living room.

Mom and Dad had stayed pretty much in the same position as they had when we left. They both looked up at me.

"We're leaving," I announced, trying to stay as calm as possible. Through the bond, I felt Bella reaching out, trying to keep me in check.

"Where are you going?" Dad asked sharply.

I wanted to roll my eyes at him and tell him that it was none of his business, but I refrained from that. "Going to the hotel the boys are staying at. It's closer to the airport," I explained swiftly.

Mom's eyes filled with tears. "Will you be coming home for Christmas?" she asked me in a small voice.

Looking at Dad, I could only think of how I wanted to get away as fast as possible but I didn't want to hurt my mother's feelings. She had nothing to do with any of this.

I walked over to her and hugged her tightly. "Of course we will. We'll also call you as often as possible," I promised her.

Mom sniffed in response. "Please take care of your sister and tell her to keep an eye on you," she pleaded.

Now I did roll my eyes and grinned. "I don't need her to look out for me," I told her and it made her smile slightly.

"I love you, my little puppy."

"I love you, too, Mom."

She kissed my forehead and let me go.

I gave her one last smile, before I left the room and then the house.

**xXxXxXxXxXx**

The drive to the hotel was a quiet one. I sat with Bella on the backseat, our hands clasped together. Our emotions were mixing to the point that I couldn't even tell which ones belonged to me.

I hadn't even known that the hotel was indeed close to the airport, so I felt slightly better for not even lying to my mom.

I was so caught up in our thoughts that I didn't even notice what was going on around me until Edward cleared his throat.

I looked up and let go of Bella's hand. Instantly, the blurry mess left my head.

Edward stood in front of us with a worried expression on his face."Are you okay?" he asked us both.

"Yes," we answered in unison.

He looked back and forth between us. "Do you want to have a room together? I'm sure you need some time alone," he asked.

Looking around for the first time, I noticed that we stood in a long and empty corridor in front of two doors. Everything was nicely decorated and polished clean so it was safe to assume that we were already in the hotel. I wondered how we got here.

"It's not much of a mystery really. You two weren't very responsive but you still followed me," Edward explained as if he had read my mind – which he probably had.

The sheepish grin on his face gave it away.

With a sigh, I turned to look at Bella, who was looking right back at me. Neither of us were particularly sure what had just transferred between us.

_Is it okay if I want to stay with Edward?_ she asked, _We'll leave tomorrow morning and who knows when we get to see them again._

I smiled weakly at her. _I don't mind. He's a lot better at comforting you anyway._

Bella smiled back at me.

Edward had obviously been following the conversation, because he looked quite content.

It was time to get that shield back in place.

"Which one is Dylan's room?" I asked.

Edward pointed at the door on his left side.

"Alright," I said slowly.

Bella wrapped her arms around me tightly. "Goodnight," she whispered.

"It's not really night yet," I mumbled.

Bella sighed. "Just humor me."

"Fine. Goodnight," I responded and hugged her back. I let her go then and turned away from them. "Don't keep her up all night, Edward," I warned and unlocked the door.

Both of them rolled their eyes at me.

With a grin, I stepped into the room.

It was a beautiful room, although I was pretty sure that this was a normality in a hotel that had any kind of class. It was held mainly in a soft yellow mixed with black and white.

In the middle of the room stood a king-sized bed that practically begged me to jump around on it.  
>Figuring that I definitely deserved some fun, I ran toward the bed and threw myself with as much swing as I could muster.<p>

I immediately bounced off the mattress, causing me to giggle to myself.

Then I noticed that I was lying on something. It was the remote for the TV. Pressing the ON button, I started to switch through the channels right away.

Eventually, I settled on a music channel. The song was just too perfect to pass by.

Getting up to stand on the bed, I started rocking out to the music.

Carelessly jumping around on a bed in a hotel room, whilst belting out the lyrics of Avril Lavigne's _Girlfriend_, was way better than keep thinking about my idiotic father.

I could still do that later.

Suddenly the music was turned off.

Landing on the mattress again, I twirled around to see what was going on.

Dylan stood there with a collection of suitcases and looked at me, his eyebrows raised. "I seriously don't get what you have against my girlfriend," he said.

I grimaced at him and sat down on the bed. "You're ruining my fun," I pouted.

"I can go again, if you like." He turned toward the door.

"Now it's too late. It's already ruined so you might as well stay here."

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" he prompted.

"Yeah, yeah... I'm getting to that."

He held up a duffel bag. "I even packed the most important things in here, so you won't have to rummage through the suitcases."

I grinned at that and crawled of the bed.

Snatching the bag out of his hand, I shot him a quick 'Thanks' and dashed into the bathroom. I changed quickly and brushed my teeth, before I marched back into the bedroom.

Dylan was already lounging on the bed, only dressed in sweats and flicking through the channels.

I crawled on the bed as well and made myself comfortable under the covers.

"There is nothing useful on," Dylan grumbled and got up to vanish in the bathroom as well.

I switched the TV off and just lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling.

It was almost surreal how everything changed once again during the course of about 24 hours.

There would most likely never be the time that Bella and I could just spend at home without someone suddenly appearing and telling us to go to some unknown place.

I wondered what this Marcus guy wanted from us.

So far the only thing I knew about him was that he was Laurent's boss. The boss of the Guardians.

But what in the world did that mean?

Marcus.

The name made something stir inside me. It was rather strange.

My vision suddenly got blurry. I blinked a couple of times but it didn't get better. Something in the back of my mind tried to fight its way forward. I tried to suppress it – I knew the feeling. But I couldn't fight it. The memory took over my mind without me being able to stop it.

_I was walking through the field, my eyes scanning the entire place.__  
><em>

"_Marcus?" I called frantically. "Marcus?"__  
><em>

"_I'm here," I heard a voice respond.__  
><em>

_Following the sound, I found him sitting behind a bush of flowers._

_"__What are you doing here? We were worried about you."__  
><em>

_The little boy shook his head. "You should be more worried about the others."__  
><em>

_I didn't respond. Instead, I looked at his hands. They were buried in the earth._

_"__What are you doing?" I repeated._

_"__Those flowers were dying," he whispered. "I had to help them." Then he looked up at me with tears in his eyes. "It hurts." His voice was barely audible._

_I only stood there and stared at him for a moment, before I knelt down and pulled him into a hug._

"_Why am I feeling this?" he asked.__  
><em>

"_I don't know."__  
><em>

"_Will it get better?"__  
><em>

"_Of course it will. I'll make sure of that."__  
><em>

_He nodded. "I love you, Mom."__  
><em>

_I smiled lightly at that. "I love you, too, Marcus."__  
><em>  
>"Chris?"<p>

I blinked. Dylan's face was right above mine, wearing a worried expression.

"Are you okay? What happened? You were completely out of it," he ranted.

"Um..." I slowly sat up and ran a hand through my hair. "I was just lost in thought?"

That had to be the least convincing lie that had ever left my mouth.

Dylan didn't exactly look like he believed that.

"I don't really wanna talk about it," I added.

That seemed to be satisfying enough for him, because he simply nodded.

Only then I noticed the way he had positioned himself. His knees and arms held him up on both sides of my body, keeping me kind of caged in.

This time one of my own memories crossed my mind and I shrank back into the pillows and pulled the blanket up to my face.

Dylan, who had sill been watching me now send me a confused look. "Are you sure that you are okay?"

I nodded quickly.

Dylan sighed. "I worry about you," he said. "You're way too composed all the time. It's not healthy to keep your emotions to yourself the way you do."

"I don't keep them to myself. I share them with Bella, whether I want to or not."

He frowned at that and he pulled the blanket down to reveal the rest of my face. "I want you to share things with me as well."

"There is nothing to share right now. You already know that I'm pissed at my dad."

He nodded. "But you'd tell me if there is anything else that occupies you, right?"

I hummed my agreement.

"Good girl," Dylan approved and kissed me.

I felt a blush forming and turned to the side. "Really need to sleep now," I mumbled. I closed my eyes and waited for Dylan to react.

I didn't have to wait for long.

"Now this would be the perfect moment for you to tell me what's wrong with you," he said.

"Nothing is wrong. I just think that I should get some sleep."

"Oh please, that blush is giving you away, Swan."

I turned to glare at Dylan. "I'm not blushing," I argued, knowing fully well that I was. "It's just really hot in here."

He snorted at that. "Keep telling yourself that. I know for a fact that you were having some naughty thoughts." He finally gave up his current position and slumped down on the mattress right next to me.

"I wasn't having naughty thoughts," I muttered and turned my back to him.

"I have a hard time believing that, but I'll just let you have your delusions." His arm snaked around my waist, pulling me closer to him and he rested his head on my shoulder. "Goodnight, Chris," he whispered and placed a kiss on my shoulder.

"Don't start any funny business," I mumbled and yawned then.

Dylan didn't respond.

Following his lead, I stayed silent as well and closed my eyes.

Eventually, sleep came and dragged me into the land of dreams.

"Cuddling hour is over. Get up!"

What the hell? I had barely closed my eyes. I wanted to turn around but I couldn't move.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I registered that Dylan had his arms slung around me.

Not thinking anymore about it, I just drifted back into sleep.

Or at least I wanted to.

Suddenly, I felt the cool air on my body and even in my half-asleep state I knew that someone had taken the warm shelter of the bed sheet away.

Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and saw a dark figure walk around the room.

I frowned and tried to sit up. Thanks to Dylan that didn't work.

I cast a quick look at him and found him fast asleep. Good to know that he had his peace.

Turning back to the person whirling around the room, I opened my mouth to start complaining but was cut off before I even said anything.

"It's enough that you made me track you down. Now get up and get ready, we're leaving in five minutes."

My mind slowly came back to working and my eyes finally registered that Laurent stood by the door, looking as stoic as he always did.

"How am I supposed to get ready in five minutes?" I yawned.

"I don't care how you do it, just do it."

With these words he left the room.

I frowned at the door, which was pretty senseless since Laurent couldn't see it anyway.

With a sigh I let my head fall back into the pillow.

"Dylan," I called.

He didn't react. I tried it again.

"Dylan, let go of me if you don't want me to burn your arms off."

Still no reaction.

Was he dead? I hoped not.

I twisted around in his grip to face him.

Looking up at his sleeping face, I realized that I'd never actually seen him sleep.

He looked adorable with his hair falling into his face and his mouth slightly open.

His sleeping face held an innocence that really shouldn't have been there, seeing that I knew what he was like when he was awake.

I reached up and patted his cheek lightly.

"Wake up."

Behind me I heard the door open.

"Hey Chris, are you..." Bella started and let her voice trail off.

I turned my head to look at her with a questioning look.

"Oh, I thought you were still sleeping," she explained.

She was already fully dressed, but looked about as awake as I felt.

Edward appeared in the door frame as well.

"Morning," he mumbled.

"How do I wake him up?" I asked Edward instead of responding.

Edward looked confused for a moment, but then seemed to grasp what I wanted from him.

"I don't know... scream at him?"

"Not much of an help."

Bella sat on the edge of the bed and looked over my shoulder.

"He looks so cute when he sleeps," she noted and shook her head as if she couldn't believe it.

"I know, it's kinda weird."

Edward walked around the bed and leaned over his brother.

"Alice wants to cut your hair and I think Mom agrees to it. If you don't get up fast to catch Dad before he leaves, you'll have a very weak defense for your hair."

Dylan's eyes opened almost immediately.

"No one is cutting my hair," he roared and sat up abruptly.

"I'm not sure about that. You should cut a bit off, not much just enough so that I won't feel strange that my boyfriend eventually has longer hair than I do," I replied dryly and got off the bed, now that I was free to move.

Dylan looked around disorientated.

"Alice is not even here," he turned to glare at Edward. "What was that for?"

I only heard Edward say something about holding me in a death grip, while I grabbed my duffel back and vanished into the bathroom.

I was pretty sure that the five minutes were up by now but since I didn't hear an impatient Laurent anywhere close by, I figured that he only tried to make me hurry as much as possible.

There would be no harm in taking a quick two minute shower.

I stripped off my clothes as quickly as I could and nearly jumped into the shower.

Since I didn't want Laurent to come in here and drag me out, I cleaned myself off so fast that I was pretty impressed with myself.

I wrapped myself in a towel and gabbed the blow dryer to make quick work of my hair.

_Edward and I are going to head down for a quick breakfast, should I get something for you?_ Bella's mental voice asked.

_Nope, I'm good. _

Slipping into her mind for a moment, I saw how she and Edward left the room and started talking about how Laurent had found us.

I went back into my own mind, since I couldn't afford standing around and doing nothing and started to get dressed.

"It's kind of unfair that I didn't get to spend any time with you at all."

I spun around and found Dylan standing next to the sink with an unhappy expression.

"You did spend time with me," I reminded him.

"We only arrived yesterday and you're already leaving today. It's not a lot of your time that I got to enjoy."

The way he stood there, pouting just made me roll my eyes at him then I realized something else.

"What are you doing in here anyway? Have you never heard of privacy?" I snapped at him and rummaged around in the bag in search of some pants.

"Psh, it's not like I haven't seen it all before. You got naked for me before," he commented.

I threw a dark look at him over my shoulder.

"This is not the moment to talk about that."

"I think it was very funny. It'll be a story that I'll tell at every family dinner."

Now I was lost. Were we even talking about the same thing?

I looked at him and he only grinned at me in return.

"I was talking about the day you burned your entire clothing off," he clarified, still grinning.

I opened my mouth only to close it again and then decided to just ignore him.

Finally finding my pants, I started to put them on.

Dylan's hands were suddenly around my waist, while I zipped up my jeans.

He definitely didn't have a sense of privacy or he figured that I wouldn't mind.

"I'm going to miss you. I missed you every day since we were sent on vacation," he murmured into my ear and hugged me close to him.

I smiled at that.

"I'll miss you too, but we'll probably see each other sooner than you think."

I turned around in his embrace and put my arms around his neck.

Without having any time to react, Dylan lifted me up so he could kiss me.

The sudden bang of the door being ripped open almost made my heart stop.

I pulled away from Dylan, who didn't seem to be very shocked to find Laurent standing in the door way. He was still holding me up, which was kind of impressive given the fact that Laurent looked very annoyed.

"Get dressed and stop fooling around, we need to get going," he grumbled.

I had most definitely forgotten that I was not wearing a shirt yet.

Laurent shot a particularly mean look at Dylan and left again.

"You didn't lock the door?" Dylan asked me.

"Apparently not or Laurent just unlocked it. It shouldn't surprise you so much."

He set me back down on the ground.

"True," he allowed and reached behind me to hand me my shirt.

I put it on quickly.

"Let's get going, before Laurent really yanks me out of here."

We left the bathroom and I found the room empty.

The suitcases were already gone.

We made our way downstairs and found Bella, Edward and Laurent in the lobby.

Laurent wore a scowl on his face, which didn't really surprise me much.

"Are you finally ready?" he asked, when Dylan and I approached.

I wanted to snap something at him in response when I heard a familiar voice.

"Laurent, we have a schedule to keep!"

I looked around Laurent and found Ms. Carmina walking up to us.

I bit back a groan. We had to be the only ones in the world that had their teachers around them during the summer vacation. Was there anything in my life that didn't suck?

Glancing up at Dylan, I decided there was.

"What are you doing here, Ms. Carmina?" Bella asked in wonder.

"We can talk about this once we get going? Are you ready?"

She sounded like a business woman, who desperately wanted to seal a deal.

I looked at the others.

"We'll come after a you as soon as possible. I've already started with organizing everything," Edward informed me.

I just nodded.

He stepped closer to me and pulled me in a hug.

"Be good, don't kill anyone and take care of your sister," he muttered to me.

"I'll try to be good. It depends on how much those people will annoy me."

Edward chuckled. "That's all I can ask for, I guess."

He let go of me and turned to Bella, who had just finished exchanging words with Dylan.

Ms. Carmina and Napoleon were murmuring something to each other. The only thing I caught was the words 'Trydian'.

I was being pulled into a hug, without noticing. Turning my head, I came face to face with Dylan.

He pressed a light kiss on my cheek.

"Don't be too mean to Laurent," he said, earning an eye roll from me.

"Yeah, yeah," I replied slowly and pulled a grimace.

"We don't have all day, so let's get moving," Ms. Carmina urged.

The way those two kept reminding us that we had to hurry, was definitely starting to get on my nerves.

"Why didn't you make a better schedule and picked us up earlier, in case that we take a little longer?" I asked in annoyance.

Laurent's eyes narrowed. He was in such a bad mood.

"We did, but you left your house without telling me and I had to track you down. That doesn't work in just two seconds. It's not helpful either that your father decided it was the right time to argue with Didyme."

My mood was immediately dampened by that. I had already pushed the thought of my father's betrayal aside, but Laurent just had to be so kind and remind me.

I didn't say anything in response and just wiggled out of Dylan's hug.

Ms. Carmina and Laurent looked at all of us as if there were waiting for us to do something else to keep us from departing and then started to lead the way out.

Bella and I were quick to follow them, not without turning various times to wave at the boys.

Outside, stood a black SUV in which our teacher's climbed without saying a word.

Bella and I exchanged a look before getting into the back.

Inside it was nice and cool, almost chilling.

"Do you mind telling us where exactly we are going?" Bella asked, when Laurent started the engine.

"Guardian headquarters in Trydian," Ms. Carmina responded in a clipped tone.

Again, I exchanged a look with my sister.

That information didn't do anything to help us. The only thing I could recall was Dylan saying something about a lost country or whatever.

For some reason though, neither of us dared to ask what that was all about. Both of them were radiating unpleasant vibes, so we kept our mouths shut.

Laurent was speeding through the streets of Phoenix, which almost made me wish that Edward was driving.

Seeing the direction that we were driving, it was obvious that we were not headed for the airport.

With a small sigh, I leaned back in my seat and looked out the window.

"Laurent?" Bella asked, after a while.

"Yes?"

"Where is Didyme? You said earlier that..." she didn't continue, but Laurent answered anyway.

"She was with us when we went to your parent's house, but I told her to get going when I had to track you down, so she's already on her way home."

"And her home is where?" I questioned.

"Trydian, of course."

He made it sound as if it was obvious. It could have been, but with those people you never knew what to expect.

Looking out the window again, I noticed that we were no longer in Phoenix- or anywhere near civilization for that matter.

"So where is that Trydian place?" I asked.

Ms. Carmina sighed. "Do they always ask so many questions?" she complained.

Laurent nodded in answer.

Bella and I looked at each other briefly, both of us looking a bit offended.

Again the time passed without anyone talking. It started to get on my nerves, but I kept my mouth shut as well.

The scenery outside was not much to look at. We were driving through a deserted area, where I could practically see the heat.

Suddenly, I saw a person appearing in the middle of nowhere. I was fairly sure that I had seen him floating down from the sky.

I frowned in confusion and took a closer look, but he was now standing with his two feet on the ground.

"Umm..." I started, but was cut off by Laurent.

"It's not a hallucination."

He pulled the car to the side and turned the engine off.

The man approached the car in a casual manner, as if it was normal to descend the sky and land in the desert.

"Who is he?" Bella murmured. It seemed like she had seen him floating as well.

Ms. Carmina got out of the car and met the man half-way.

I opened my window to hear what they were saying.

"I didn't know that they'd send you, Peter," Ms. Carmina said, instead of greeting him.

Peter pulled a grimace at her.

"I can leave again, if you want. I'm sure that you'll find your way up without my help," he retorted, smirking at her.

Different than Ms. Carmina and Laurent, Peter seemed to be quite at ease. He was dressed casually and his sandy brown hair fell carelessly into his face, so he pushed it back every now and then.

"Aren't you supposed to be sorting out a mess that you started in Teas," Ms. Carmina inquired, ignoring his earlier statement.

Peter looked at her for a moment, before his gaze landed on me, since I was leaning out the window to listen to their conversation.

"Aren't you supposed to get those two, to the headquarters instead of annoying me?" he shot back at Ms. Carmina.

I heard Laurent mumble something about 'idiotic antics' before he got out of the car as well.

"Peter," he greeted with a nod.

Peter's eyes landed on him and he grinned.

"Well, well... if that isn't the great Laurent. We've been missing you upstairs. It's not the same without you and your sense of humor," Peter responded almost mockingly.

"He has a sense of humor?" I blurted out, without thinking.

All three of them looked at me instantly.

It was only to be expected that Ms. Carmina and Laurent didn't look like they valued my input much.

Peter on the other hand was grinning. Then he turned his attention back to Laurent.

"I guess I have to take care of the car, seeing that you can get them up there yourself."

Laurent shook his head.

"Alicia and I have something to take care of. You will take them up. We'll follow in a couple of hours," he answered and stepped closer to Peter and put his hand on Peter's shoulder.

Peter looked a bit displeased about that.

"So I'm supposed to be taking care of them?" he asked, looking at me with a slight horror on his face. "I'm not good at babysitting."

"Don't worry, we have arranged for someone to help you. She should be here any minute," Ms. Carmina informed him with a roll of her eyes.

"Hey, Chris," Bella whispered into my ear. I hadn't even noticed that she had scooted closer to look out the window as well. "Do you think that their headquarters are in the sky?"

I shrugged. "Seems like it. It doesn't actually surprise me though. I just wonder how that is supposed to work."

Bella made a thoughtful sound, before she tapped me on shoulder.

I turned to look at her and she pointed at something ahead.

Looking through the windshield, I saw another SUV coming to halt right in front of ours.

"I guess that is our second babysitter," I muttered.

"I'm not really comfortable with us having to go with two complete strangers to some place in the sky," Bella noted.

I knew that of course, since I felt the feeling radiating off of her and I shared that emotional state.

The passenger door opened and a familiar person jumped out.

Delphine was wearing a pair of very stylish overall pants that I definitely wanted as well. She walked over to the group of adults next to our car, looking completely at ease.

"Hey, Delphine," Bella and I greeted her at the same time, both of us relieved that we not only had someone familiar with us but also someone who wasn't totally serious all the time.

I liked Laurent, but he was just no fun to be around.

Delphine smiled at us and waved.

Peter eyed her carefully. "It's hard to believe that you are Laurent's sister," he muttered, loud enough for all of us to hear.

"I find it hard to believe that you are actually a guardian. You were only supposed to gather information and yet you managed to let a war break out between the vampires. Doesn't sound very professional to me," Delphine replied.

Peter made a face at that.

"Never mind what I said, there's no mistaking that you are his sister."

Ms. Carmina now started to get impatient and she went over to the car to get our luggage out that back.

"We need to get a move on. The island is not going to stay and wait all day," she instructed, while she threw the bags out of the car.

I looked at Bella, who had now decided to get out of the car as well.

I followed her lead.

"Am I supposed to transport all of that up as well?" Peter asked in disbelief.

"No, I can take care of that real quick, thanks to that Cullen boy," Laurent told him and grabbed our suitcases.

Once he had a grip on all of them, he vanished right in front of our eyes.

"How does he do that all the time?" Bella wondered.

"What do you mean?" Delphine asked.

"The whole vanishing act," Bella explained.

Peter looked at us in curiosity.

"You don't know?" he chuckled.

"I don't think that she would ask, if she did," I said.

Just then Laurent reappeared.

"It's on the move again, so we should get going," he said breathlessly and got back into the car.

Ms. Carmina didn't waste any time to do the same thing.

Without any more words being exchanged, the two of them took off, speeding down the street.

I hadn't even noticed that the other car was already gone.

Delphine shook her head before she clapped her hands together and looked expectantly at Peter.

Meanwhile, I was starting to feel a little hot. I already missed the cool air inside the car.

"Alright girls, gather around," Peter instructed opening his arms.

I wasn't exactly sure what he wanted from us but Bella pushed me toward him.

When we all stood in a close circle, I suddenly felt a short force going through me.

"What-" I started but then I noticed something else. We were starting to float up.

Yet, I still felt as if I was standing on a solid surface.

"It's a gravity-defying field," Peter explained,before any of us asked. "Sort of like a bubble, which is why it feels like you still have ground beneath your feet."

Delphine nodded as if she already knew about that.

"I've always wanted to experience your gift, first hand. It's really fascinating," she complimented him.

"I would have thought you'd seen it before," Peter said and said down.

He crossed his legs and it look very weird, seeing that we were floating higher and higher and the field around us was invisible.

I leaned back a bit and came in contact with an invisible wall. It really was like being in a bubble.

"How should I have seen it before, we've never met," Delphine said in response to Peter.

"Your brother copied it quite a few times already."

Delphine just shrugged. "We don't see each other all that often. Especially not when he's working."

"Wait, what do you by 'he copied it'?" Bella barged into their conversation.

While I paid attention to the conversation, I was also very concerned about the heights we were exploring.

Everything beneath us had the size of child's toys, which wouldn't worry me much if it weren't for the fact that I felt like this bubble could burst any second.

"It's not going to burst," Peter said.

I looked up and found him looking at me knowingly.

"You'd have to knock me out for that to happen."

"Good to know, I guess I won't punch you then," I joked half-heartedly.

"To answer your question, Bella," Delphine said, ignoring the exchange between Peter and I, "Laurent's gift has several aspects. It's also quite rare. He senses other gifts and is able to track them down, once he's within a certain range, he's able to analyze the gift. He once explained it to me. He sees it's weaknesses, the potential and different mechanisms. He basically knows how to work it, which leads to the third aspect of his gift. He copies them. Once he's very close to the person he can take on the ability."

"He can copy them? So he has the gift of every person he ever met?" I asked.

This was very surprising.

"No, he only keeps the ability for some time. Depending on how long he has been in it's presence. When he has physical contact with the person, he practically absorbs the gift, so he gets to use it for several hours before it fades."

"Well, that explains a few things," Bella noted with a nod.

"By the way," Peter said, looking at Delphine, "Shouldn't you have a more spectacular gift, seeing that you are related?"

Delphine narrowed her eyes at him.

"There is nothing wrong with being able to heal."

"I didn't say that, but the genes of your parents shouldn't result in such a extraordinary gift and then in a more simple one. Normally, all of the children have similar gifts. His gift is mainly mental, so you should have a more mental gift as well."

Bella nudged me slightly and pointed up.

Following her gaze, I saw something floating above us.

Meanwhile, Delphine continued talking. "I have a second gift."

My eyes went back to her.

"You do?" I asked in wonder.

Delphine started to shift slightly and bit her lip. It seemed like she was uncomfortable.

"I learned very early that it's not wise to tell other people about it. It scares them off," she told us.

"Is it deadly?"

Delphine smiled and shook her head.

"Oh, tell us what it is. I'm pretty certain that it's not as bad as you make it out to be," Peter pushed.

"Why would I tell you? I hardly even know you."

Peter shot her a quick grin.

"That's true, but you know what my job is so you should know that I'm able to keep a secret."

Delphine sighed.

"I can sense other gifts nearby, like my brother..."

"And that's what you were trying to hide?" Peter interrupted her.

Delphine shot him a look. "I wasn't done talking."

"Oh. Keep going then."

Delphine directed her gaze upwards real quick, before she continued.

"I can't track them down like he does. I can actually only sense them because my ability is Gift Erasure. I eliminate the gifts of others permanently. It's kind of ironic that my second ability is healing."

"You steal powers?" Peter and I questioned at the same time.

Delphine nodded.

"How many have you already erased," Peter pressed.

"Only three. And it's not all that pleasant. I get to feel every emotion that the person ever connected with the gift."

"No wonder that you don't tell anyone about it. I can imagine how people would avoid you, because of that gift."

Delphine didn't respond. She just looked up again.

"We're almost there."

I looked back up as well.

The clouds around us were thinning and I could clearly make out what I had seen floating above us earlier.

It looked like a piece of land, being ripped off a continent and sent up to the sky.

"It's an island," Bella said in awe.

"It's Trydian," Peter explained.

For a moment we all just looked up, while our bubble moved closer to it.

"Hey, Delphine," I spoke after a moment, making her look back at me. "Just so you know, Bella and I still like you even if you could steal our powers if you wanted to."

Bella's agreement, flooded through the bond mixed with affection and amusement. I didn't bother asking her what that was about.

Delphine chuckled lightly. "That is very nice of you, but you don't even have anything to worry about. Your gifts are too big and too forceful for me to touch them. I could never take all of it- merely a few parts."

"Of course," I whispered, not very surprised that Bella and I were a strange exception once again.

"Wait," Peter interrupted. "Who are the two of you exactly?"

Now we all turned our attention to him.

"You don't know?" Delphine wondered.

"I was only told that we there are two girls who have to get to head quarters. No specifics."

"Who gave you the assignment?"

"It was Charlotte."

Delphine giggled. "No wonder, she didn't give you the specifics then. She's not very fond of you."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"That she's holding a grudge against you ever since you-"

"Yeah, yeah. I know that. I want to know what the specifics are."

Delphine opened her mouth, but closed it again.

We had reached the island and Peter got back to his feet.

He put his hands on the invisible walls and directed us closer to the ground.

We were at a giant gate, through which a stream flowed with two walkways on either side of it.

The stream flowed down the edge of the island as well, but there was no water running over the edge. It seemed more like white mist- like a cloud.

Whatever it was in this stream, it wasn't water. It was too white for that.

Peter directed us toward the ground. Another force went through and all of us were free to move again.

"Welcome to Trydian," Peter announced. "Are now going to tell me, who I just led unto this sacred ground."

Delphine just gestured for us to keep quiet and then walked up to the big gate.

Next to it was a small booth in which a small woman sat.

Once she spotted us she asked for our names.

"Those are Isabella and Christabel Swan, they want to-" Delphine didn't get to finish her sentence

The woman got up and looked at us with wide eyes.

"Didyme arrived a while ago, she told me about her nieces," she said, sounding almost like she was about to cry.

"What?" Peter called in the background. "They are Didyme's nieces?"

Delphine looked a bit confused about that. "I was actually going to say that they are the bonded ones..."

Now the woman in the booth looked like she was about to faint.

I heard Bella sigh beside me and I had to hold back a sigh of my own.

"The bonded..." Peter started to whisper but stopped, it was almost like he was choking on the words. Then he regained his posture. "I'm going to kill Charlotte for that!"

The door to the booth opened and the woman came over to shake Bella's and my hands.

She didn't say anything and just let us go before she turned toward the wall next to her booth.

She snipped the fingers of her right hand, which made a wand appear in it.

Tapping it against the wall, she muttered something under breath.

Then she stepped back and we all watched how the wall parted to reveal a golden staircase behind it.

"You can take the stairs. No need for you to make your way across the island to get to Marcus," she said and gestured for us to go ahead.

Bella and I turned to look at Delphine and Peter, who both nodded for us to go ahead.

Hesitating shortly we started to go up the golden steps with Peter and Delphine following behind us.

A low rumbling came from behind us and when I turned around, I saw the wall closing up.

"Where do these stairs lead to?" Bella asked.

"They teleport us right over to Marcus," Delphine explained.

Suddenly a door opened in front of us, despite the fact that there hadn't actually been a door.

The light behind the door was blinding. I took an involuntary step back.

"Chris?" I heard Bella ask. Her hand grabbed mine and she squeezed it tightly. "I saw something."

"You saw something?" I repeated. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Another one of Melantha's memories. Just second ago."

I made a sound of enlightment. "What did you see?"

"Marcus is Aro's brother."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:**___**It almost pains me to have revealed a part of Marcus'identity :/ I really enjoyed, being the only one who knew what was going on... oh well, I'm still happy to share this story with you :)**

**So please tell me what you think of this chapter, I value your opinions very much**

**Lots and Lots of love**

**xoxo~ Star**


	5. Chapter 5

Bella POV

As soon as we stepped on the first step of the golden staircase a weird feeling overcame me.

I knew that feeling and had really been hoping that it wouldn't happen. It hadn't happened since our vacation started, but I couldn't fight the memory as it pushed its way into my mind

_The three boys ran in, the excitement clear on their faces._ _Looking at them, I knew that there was something going on._ _I didn't even have to ask them what it was, because they began recounting right away._

"_Mother, mother," all three of them squealed. "We found a cave nearby and it's really big."_

"_You did?" I asked them, feigning surprise. Of course, I knew that this cave existed._

_They nodded._

"_And it is kind of like Aro," Marcus continued. "It absorbs our powers as well."_

_My brows furrowed at that. I hadn't been aware of that fact._

"_Yes, I tried to blast a hole into its walls, but the walls just absorbed the energy," Caius added._

_I looked at my three sons and then spoke, "Do you think you can show me that cave later?"_

_All three of them nodded and answered in unison, "Of course, mother."_

My mind raced. Aro had called Melantha and Amarantha his mothers and so far I couldn't object to that, although that didn't exactly make sense to me. After seeing this, it was safe to assume that Marcus was Aro's brother.

The thought scared me.

Just then a door opened in front of us- light flooding through it and blinding us. I couldn't concentrate on that, though. Grabbing Chris' hand, I called for her attention.

"I saw something," I told her.

"You saw something?" she repeated, not knowing what I was talking about. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Another one of Melantha's memories. Just a second ago."

"What did you see?"

"Marcus is Aro's brother."

For a moment she just looked blankly at me, before her expression turned dark. "That explains why I saw him yesterday," she muttered.

"You saw him?"

Chris nodded.

"Don't let that light confuse you, you can step right in," Delphine noted behind us. She obviously thought that we were hesitating because of this unnatural light.

Chris threaded her fingers through mine and instantly, something happened.

It was just like yesterday when we were so entirely caught up in our minds that it became one. Only now it was a bit different. Not a big swirl of emotions; more like we were thinking together.

I knew exactly what Chris was thinking, without her having to form actual words in her mind.

Both of us knew that we had to step through that door either way, so we did.

An escape plan was starting to form inside my head, which wasn't my doing but I didn't stop Chris from it.

The light faded as soon as we entered it and we found ourselves in some kind of lounge. It was a bright room filled with light colours and a big window taking up most of the southern wall.

In front of it stood a beautiful lounge set, assembled around a glass coffee table. Two people were sitting comfortably on the couch, whispering to each other. One of them was Didyme, dressed in a white cloak like the last time I saw her. The man next to her was wearing the same thing and his hair was almost rivalling hers.

A weird sense of familiarity overcame me, which made Chris shift slightly uncomfortably.

Didyme spotted us first and smiled gently, before she nudged the man- who I assumed to be Marcus. He turned to look at us and his face fell.

Chris and I exchanged a quick look of confusion.

"Sorry to just burst in here," Delphine said, stepping around us. "Margret just let us in."

"That's alright. I'm glad that you are finally here," Didyme answered and got up. She went over to us with open arms and then pulled both of us in a hug at the same time.

Luckily, she let us go quickly because I wasn't particularly into this.

When she let us go I saw that Marcus had gotten up and approached us as well. His face held an expression that I couldn't identify, but I couldn't help but feel drawn to him.

"You look nothing like them and yet, you kind of do," he muttered. By the sounds of it he was talking to himself more than to anyone else.

"I'm Marcus," he then added a bit louder and held out his hand.

Neither Chris nor I moved to shake his hand.

"What do you want from us?" I asked instead.

Marcus let his hand sink and studied me with a thoughtful expression. "I didn't know you had anything to offer to me," he replied calmly.

"We thought that too, but your brother didn't seem to agree with that," Chris and I said at the same time.

Marcus' eyes darted back and forth between us and then settled on our joined hands.

"He really did plant their memories into your heads, didn't he? I wonder how he did that..." Marcus voice trailed off and he went back to sit down.

Didyme, Delphine and Peter took that as a signal to sit as well.

"Please make yourselves comfortable," Didyme told us gently, gesturing toward one of the large seats.

Chris and I moved to sit down, both of us easily fitting in the seat.

"Just to ease your minds, I don't intend to steal your powers and misuse them," Marcus said.

Steal our powers? I didn't know what he was talking about.

"Aro didn't try to steal our powers, he wanted us to-" Chris started but Marcus interfered.

"I know what he did and is still planning to do. His intention had always been to steal your powers."

Not knowing what he was talking about, I let out a sigh.

Marcus caught that and smiled slightly. "Don't worry; I will explain that later on."

"So why are we here then?" Chris asked.

"For protection. Aro is not the only one who is trying to get to you."

My thoughts started racing towards Chris, letting her know about the full extent of my earlier 'vision'.

"Caius?" she wondered aloud, looking at me with furrowed brows.

I just shrugged, not knowing what to make of it.

Marcus watched us closely. "So you know about him too," he observed.

"He's your bother as well," I replied.

Marcus nodded.

"Where is he?"

"I don't know. I just know that his people had gotten dangerously close to you. Laurent noticed it rather late, so we had to get you away on short notice."

"Besides, we need to remove the seals on you," Didyme chimed in.

"So basically, we are just going to waste the rest of our vacation here?" Chris asked, not sounding too impressed.

"I'm sure that you will like it here," Marcus responded lightly. "Besides, once the seals are removed you might want to work with your newly gained powers. And your friends are also going to be here, so it might not be that bad."

Chris and I leaned back in our seat and both of us stared at Marcus intently. Chris was now feeling the weird pull that came from him as well.

Everyone in the room seemed to be watching us while we watched Marcus.

"The bond," Marcus eventually spoke, "Is it always this intense?"

"No," we replied in unison.

Marcus seemed to be delighted by the fact that Chris and I were perfectly synchronized.

Another thought occurred to us then.

"You said that Caius' people got 'dangerously close' to us, who are they?" I asked him, preventing Chris from asking the same in a much ruder manner.

Marcus made a thoughtful face at that and then turned around to look at Didyme. "What did Laurent say their names were?" he asked her.

Chris' eyebrows shot up at that.

Didyme thought for a moment as well before she answered. "I believe it was Jane and Alec," she responded then.

Chris and I looked at each other with identical expressions. I couldn't determine what those expressions represented though. It was horror, confusion and more confusion mixed together.

"Oh yes, Jane and Alec," Marcus nodded. "We can't tell you much about them other than the fact that they are demons-"

"What?" Chris shrieked and sprung up.

The synchronized workings inside the bond came to an abrupt end, when Chris emotions spiked up so suddenly.

"You're telling me I made out with a demon? That's got to be a new low in the history of standards."

Everyone was watching her with a surprised expression, while Chris looked like she wanted to throw up.

"Aren't you being a little racist now?" I wondered.

I mean, they did look like humans to me and acted like people as well, so there shouldn't be any reason for Chris to feel so disgusted. Ashamed, embarrassed and slightly humiliated, sure- but not disgusted.

"You made out with him?" Delphine questioned.

"No, I didn't," Chris snapped instantly, obviously changing her tactics to denial.

Delphine wasn't buying that and breathed out a "Wow".

Peter looked a little entertained by all of this.

Marcus looked at her with wide eyes and opened his mouth a couple of times, trying to find something to say.

"Chris, just sit down and relax. It's not like you have herpes or anything," I sighed, trying to get some order in this... whatever it was.

She did sit down, but turned to me with a horrified expression.

"How do you know that I don't have herpes? I could have some freaky demon herpes now that might kill me. You can't say for sure, can you?" She shook me slightly while saying that.

"There is no such thing as demon herpes," Peter piped up from his seat.

Chris relaxed at that, but not completely.

"Shall we get back to the topic?" Didyme asked.

"What exactly was the topic?" Chris countered.

"Maybe we should just show you your rooms," Marcus proposed.

I shook my head at that. "First I wanna ask a question," I said.

Marcus looked at me with interest and gestured for me to go on.

"So far no body has really explained it to us, but who or what are the Guardians?"

It was something that had been bugging me ever since I heard of them and it wasn't helping that Laurent refused to give up any information.

Marcus leaned back in his seat. "Well, that will take a bit to answer. Originally, I founded this organisation to guard my mothers. That was, of course, back when they were still alive. You see the whole story of Melantha and Amarantha started a lot later than history class in the school teaches you. Aro made sure to loosen the connection to the magic world as much as he could, so he could protect himself better-"

"I have a question too," Chris barged in. Not waiting for anyone to allow her to continue, she continued, "How the hell could you have been the sons of those two and still be alive? You're mothers are dead and all of that happened hundreds of years ago, or not?"

Marcus let out a long breath.

"Melantha and Amarantha are not the actual creators of the witches or the demons. However the humans made them out to be exactly that, given their status within those races and their power. The way everyone followed and obeyed them almost made it seem like they did create them. And I guess the humans needed someone to hold responsible for the sudden appearance of two unknown forces. They just wanted someone to hold responsible for their near extinction."

While Chris and I were soaking up as much information as we could, I saw Delphine and Peter perk up as well. Apparently, they didn't know that story either.

"Melantha and Amarantha were actually the product of the only crossing between a witch and a demon. A regular born witch at that, which also made them part human. While Melantha had a stronger affinity for witch magic, Amarantha was remarkable with wielding the power of a demon. Yet they were still different and much stronger than each side. Part of it was probably given by their heritage; the other part was the enormous gift that came along with that crossing. It is safe to believe that no creature in this world would have ever gotten it except for those two."

"Why is that," I asked curiously.

Marcus smiled briefly at me. "For one they were a mix of all three races. It's not something to take lightly. Demons and witches don't usually cross and even then it will not result in a pregnancy. It was long believed that this was impossible, but it seems like those two were just meant to mix."

Before Chris could ask him who 'those two' were, he already explained, "Abaddon was the name of their father and he wasn't just any demon. He was the one that ruled the demon world. He is said to be a demon of destruction. There has never been a demon more powerful than he was and there will probably never be. Their mother was named Celeste, and even though her parents were both human, she was still the descendant of a powerful magical line. You can't even really call it a magical line, because in the entire family there have only been two great wizards. The first was the highly admired Merlin, whose powers were never passed on to his children. It would seem that he contained quite ta unique magical gene. It happens every now and then that this gene is too powerful to be activated in the body of the children. It'll be passed on, but not actually be there."

"What does that even mean?" Chris muttered.

"You can think of it as something like a sickness. Certain families have certain sicknesses running in their line, but not everybody gets sick. It's just a gene that is passed on and will hit when the genetic code allows no other option for it. Which is exactly what happened to Celeste.

"So the combination of a magical gene of that level and that kind of demonic force just had to result in a powerful being. In this case two. The bond was just a coincidence in all of that."

"Okay, another interruption," I chimed in. "How does a bond forge?"

"It's not that complicated really. In the early stages of the pregnancy there are no two beings inside the womb. It is one and therefore the source of magic is only one as well. When it gets to the separation of the zygote it sometimes happens that the magic doesn't exactly separate. Since it has no actual shape it doesn't change anything. The bond is just the result of not being entirely cut off. You and your sister share the same magic with each other but, both parts develop individually."

"Umm...okay," Chris and I chorused. I hadn't been expecting there to be a scientific explanation. I was thinking something among the lines of us being destined to be connected or something.

"Alright, back to the topic- Melantha and Amarantha have been given gifts to suit their uniqueness and soon it was clear that it was not wise to just shout it out to the world. Celeste tried to train them as regular witches, which obviously only worked for one of them. So-"

"Abaddon decided to take Amarantha with him," Chris whispered.

Her thoughts ran too fast for me to catch them, but I figured that she knew this because of the flashbacks we always had.

Marcus opened his mouth and closed it again. He scrunched up his face while he looked at us. "Maybe," he said slowly. "Maybe we should have this conversation some other time."

He was looking back and forth between me and Chris again and it seemed like whatever he saw didn't please him.

He turned to look at Didyme. "Can we undo whatever it was that Aro did to them?" he asked her.

Didyme looked unsure. "I don't think so. We don't know exactly what he did."

Marcus displeased expression didn't change. "He shouldn't have been able meddle in their minds like that. I think the seals need to be removed."

Didyme only nodded in agreement and clapped her hands together. She slowly opened her hands again, now with something lying in her palms.

Chris and I looked closely and it looked like a little bird that was made of folded paper.

Didyme got up and went over to the window. She opened it and held out her hand. The little paper bird took off, looking a lot like a real one.

Chris and I exchanged a look, wondering what that had just been about.

"I informed Jacob, he'll get ready for tomorrow morning. The twins should get some rest," she said softly and closed the window again.

"Are they staying with me?" Delphine asked, speaking for the first time in a long time.

"Well, we do have a room organized for them in our own quarters, but it's up to the girls to decide where they will be staying," Marcus responded, looking at us in question.

"I don't care. I just need to do something normal for a change," Chris grumbled. "Like reading or sleeping."

Delphine made an almost disappointed face, which led to the conclusion that she had not had something normal in mind.

"I'm going to show you to your room," Didyme said with a gentle smile.

She beckoned for us to follow her and moved toward the door through which we entered the room.

Peter sighed. "It was just getting interesting here," he complained.

Marcus chuckled. "Don't worry, Peter. I have a new assignment for you anyway."

Delphine waved at us, when we got up to follow Didyme. Didyme turned the door knob and revealed a staircase that led upstairs. I didn't bother asking how she made it appear and just followed Didyme and my sister upstairs.

When we reached the end of the stair case, she opened another door. Behind it was a gigantic room. For a moment I thought it was floating in the air, which would have been entirely possible.

The entire south wall was made out of glass and let us look over an impressive looking town. There was only one bed in the room, but it was big enough to accommodate an entire family.

The room was kind of a mix between a bedroom and a library. Each of the other walls was taken up by large book shelves and there were a few lounge chairs scattered around in the room.

"Make yourselves at home, and if you need something you just have to turn the doorknob to the left and come downstairs," Didyme explained to us.

"What happens when I turn it to the right?" Chris asked her.

"Then you will be led to the kitchen. If you pull the knob first and then turn it right you'll come out front and the left is the bathroom."

"So we are free to go wherever we want?" I inquired. So far I had kind of felt like we were stuck in here.

"Of course, you can go wherever you want."

"Meh, I'm staying in here," Chris stated and went over to the large windows. She sat down on the ground and almost looked like she was watching TV.

"Alright then, I can leave you alone then?"

I nodded at her.

Didyme smiled one last time at us and then left the room.

I went to join Chris at the window and looked down on the town beneath us.

It was like nothing I had ever seen before.

Instead of streets there were milky white streams between the pavements and the entire place seemed to be held in white, gold and silver.

"Is that guy there skating on water?" Chris pointed at a figure that was indeed skating over the water. If it even was water. It looked more like milk to me.

Chris and I continued to watch the world around us and commented on particularly strange things. We saw quite a few of those paper birds, all of them in different shapes and sizes, as they flew from one place to the next.

When it started to get dark, Chris and I noticed yet another thing. While then entire place is being swallowed by darkness, people continued moving about with strange balls of light accompanying them.

Eventually, we were both tired and strangely enough we found our suitcases standing in the room.

Changing quickly, we both snuggled into the giant bed and fell asleep quickly.

When I woke the next morning, Chris was not lying next to me anymore. Checking the time, I realize that it was already past ten. Chris was most likely already having breakfast.

Gathering my things, I stepped into the bathroom and got ready. The shower started running on its own when I stepped in, the water at exact the temperature that I liked.

I could definitely get used to this kind of luxury.

After enjoying a long shower, I got dressed. I didn't even have to blow dry my hair, since the towel had completely dried it.

As soon as I was ready, I went into the kitchen. It took me a bit to remember how I was supposed to turn the door knob, but I figured it out.

Sure enough, Chris was there. She was not alone though. She sat at the counter together with two men standing by the other door, watching her.

"Umm... morning?" I greeted, a bit confused by this picture.

Chris turned around and pulled a grimace. "You need to hurry with breakfast. Those two are not really patient," she told me.

"Who are they?" I asked.

Chris shrugged. "Guardians that have to take us to our appointment."

"Appointment."

"The seal removal."

"Right."

Now that I remembered, I didn't really feel like eating. I just grabbed a banana and poured myself a glass of milk while I ate it. Two minutes later, I was done and the guardians took that as a sign to lead us out the door.

"They don't talk much either," Chris told me with a roll of her eyes before getting up to follow them.

We walked through the room in which we had met Marcus yesterday.

Unlike Didyme, the guardians walked toward the other side of the room. Just when they stood in front of the wall, a door appeared and opened.

I expected step outside, but instead it was yet another stair case. This time it led downstairs.

"I'm really starting to wonder how this house works," I muttered. "I don't even know on which floor we are."

We reached the end of the stairs.

"I'd say we're in the basement now," Chris stated.

It seemed like she was right. It was dark and there weren't any windows. We walked through the long corridor, the men in front of us still silent. At least they didn't expect us to be able to see in the dark as they both lit their wands.

We passed a few doors and I wondered just what exactly was behind them. The question was answered somewhat when the two guardians opened one of the doors and pushed us in before entering themselves.

I instantly had the urge to run.

There was a gloomy atmosphere in the room. Part of that was probably the fact that there were no windows or anything of the sort. Another reason was the other four guardians inside the room who looked at us with calculating expressions.

The weirdest part was the huge seal that was painted on the ground in the middle of the room. The only reason I recognized it as a seal was because it was the exact same symbol as the ones that Chris and I had on our bodies.

While all the guardians were taking their places around the room, the door was being opened and a familiar person stepped in.

It was Jacob Black, whom we had met at the hospital back in the Academy. I vaguely remembered how he had told us that he was an expert when it came to seals.

"Hello there, ladies. It's nice to see you again," Jacob greeted us cheerfully as soon as he caught sight of us.

He wore a big and bright smile on his face, making me feel happy about his presence as well.

Chris, on the other hand, didn't share that feeling. She was edgy and just wanted to get out of this room as fast as possible.

Not that I could blame her. Even with Jacob's illuminating cheeriness, this room remained slightly creepy. Especially now that it seemed like everyone was bracing for some kind of battle.

All the guardians had their eyes on us, looking like they were ready to jump at any given time.

"I see that the two of you are not very chatty today," Jacob continued, when he didn't get an answer form either of us.

"Sorry, it's just a bit weird to be here," I explained swiftly.

Jacob laughed. "Don't worry, you'll be outta here in no time," he promised.

"I hope that's true," Chris murmured.

Jacob smiled once more before he went passed us and stepped into the middle of the seal. He seated himself in the middle of it, crossing his legs and closing his eyes.

For a moment, I didn't know what to make of that and it seemed like Chris was confused as well.

Before either of us could start asking questions- like we did so often- he opened his eyes again and looked at us.

"So which one of you wants to go first?"

Chris and I exchanged a look, daring the other one to go first.

After a few moments of silent debate, Chris sighed and gave in.

She shoved me lightly to express her slight annoyance and went to join Jacob on the ground, who held out his hands toward her.

She eyed him warily and I could hear that she was already making up snarky comments in her mind.

"I need you to hold my hands for this," Jacob stated calmly. "Unless you want to undress and let me touch the seal directly."

Chris quickly grabbed his hands.

"It's enough that I had to strip down for Napoleon," she hissed.

Through the bond I felt that Jacob's hands sent a strange force through her body. She could feel it in her hands, slowly starting to climb up her arms.

"Do you feel anything happening?" Jacob asked her. He was watching her closely as if he didn't want to miss anything that she was going to do.

Chris nodded at his question and all the guardians tensed.

It was as if everyone was expecting Chris to become a danger.

Thinking about it, that was probably exactly what everyone feared. After all, no one knew what exactly had been sealed away. Not even Didyme could tell us that, so it wasn't all that stupid to assume that she might blow up the room or something.

My inner musings were interrupted when I felt the bond being clouded by something I couldn't place.

I shifted and looked at Chris more intently, trying to see if she noticed that too.

Chris wasn't looking at me, though. She had dropped her head and didn't move at all- as if she were a statue.

I could vaguely register that she was slowly losing consciousness and just when I was about to reach through the bond to gain her attention, it was suddenly gone.

I was left with a hollow feeling, which completely threw me off.

It wasn't like the time when Chris had almost drowned, though. There was still something connecting me to my sister, but it wasn't like the bond that I had gotten used to. This felt almost exactly the same as it used to, before we went to the Academy and discovered our magical abilities.

What exactly was going on here?

Chris must have fainted completely then, because her body just slumped and she fell forward. Jacob caught her by her shoulders and looked at one of the guardians.

They both looked at each other but neither one did anything, both of them waiting for something to happen.

I didn't dare to speak in this silence, afraid that I might disrupt whatever was going on.

Minutes passed with nothing happening, but still no one was willing to move even an inch.

Impatience made its way through my system and I wanted to ask someone just how long they were going to stand there and wait.

Then something strange happened.

Chris sat up straight abruptly and just when she did that, there was some kind of energetic blast.

It was rather hard to explain, because I couldn't see it. I just felt like I was hit by a big load of energy as if something had exploded.

The truly strange part though, was that everyone was pushed back by it- everyone except me.

All the guardians hit the walls that were directly behind them, even Jacob.

And just like that, Chris hit the ground.

Now that she was out of it again, everyone regained their composure and the guardian that had been exchanging looks with Jacob went over to her and picked her up.

So that was what they were waiting for.

The guardian moved passed me with Chris in his arms and left the room.

I wanted to follow them.

"You are staying here," Jacob instructed.

Turning back, I saw that he had returned to his spot within the seal.

He reached his hands out. "It's your turn now."

I stared at him with wide eyes.

Was no one going to explain to me what just happened?

Jacob sighed when I made no move to approach him.

"Your sister is fine. Her seal is broken and it seems like her body is strong enough to contain her powers. She wouldn't have passed out if that wasn't the case," he told me, no doubt trying to ease my worry.

Having no other choice than believing Jacob's words, I joined him in the seal and took his hands. Just like Chris before, I could feel a power making its way from his hands through my body.

What I didn't pick up before was that it was humming loudly in my ears.

"Do you feel anything?" Jacob asked me now as well.

I nodded just like Chris had done.

Answering him with actual words was not an option.

My body was currently struggling to keep up with a new energy making its way through my system.

My heart beat quickened and I felt like I was going to burst any moment.

The energy inside my body was too much to be contained all at once, but I willed it to stay inside.

I had to concentrate on keeping it in check until it finally stopped struggling to get out.

Slowly the mass of force started to settle and spread throughout my body, taking on its shape.

Now that I didn't have to push it down anymore, I slowly fell into the darkness and I couldn't even fight it. My mind had done its part and now my body was taking over, allowing me to rest.

I welcomed the darkness, knowing that I had nothing to fear.

The first thing that I noticed was the humming bond. It was buzzing with new energy. The familiar tenor of Chris' mind entered mine and also woke me.

That and the fact that I heard familiar voices.

Opening my eyes, I sat up.

For some reason I had been expecting to be waking up in a hospital bed, but instead it was a couch.

I found myself in the room in which we first met Marcus. I decided to label it as the living room from now on.

"How are you feeling?" various voices asked me.

I looked around and almost did a double take.

All of my friends were gathered in the room. Well, not all of them, but those that I would expect to see in a strange place like this.

Alice and Rose sat together on one of the large seats. Edward, Emmett and Jasper sat on the second couch and Dylan was sitting on the floor, right next to Alice's feet.

A grin slowly spread on my face.

Upon seeing that, the entire group relaxed and let out chuckles and giggles.

All except for Chris, she leaned back and scowled. "You know, with all of them here you can be sure that our vacation is officially over," she muttered.

I supposed that she was somewhat right, but unlike her I was not bothered by it.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:**__** Sorry for the long wait. I completely forgot that I had a half-way done chapter on my PC. Thanks to **_**Starfishseason _I was reminded that there was something I had to finish and did that right away :)_**

**_Thanks to justareaderfan as well, for being a good beta. She's also part of the reason why my writing improved over time._**

**_I'm not really in the mood to ramble much today, but feel free to leave a review. Love you all_**

**_xoxo_**

**_Star_**


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